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Polyphyly of the fern family Tectariaceae sensu Ching: insights from cpDNA sequence data

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Abstract

Tectariaceae are a pantropical fern family of about 20 genera, among which 8 are distributed in China. The morphological distinctiveness of the family is widely recognized, yet relatively little systematic research has been conducted on members of Tectariaceae. Phylogenetic analyses of chloroplast DNA sequence data (rbcL and atpB) from 15 species representing all 8 genera in China were carried out under parsimony criteria and Bayesian inference. The phylogenetic reconstructions indicated that the fern family Tectariaceae as traditionally circumscribed are polyphyletic. Ctenitis, Dryopsis, Lastreopsis clustered with and should be included within the newly-defined Dryopteridaceae, and Pleocnemia is also tentatively assigned to it. A narrowly monophyletic Tectariaceae is identified, which includes Ctenitopsis, Hemigramma, Pteridrys, Quercifilix, and Tectaria. In the single rbcL analysis, Arthropteris clustered with the above-mentioned monophyletic Tectariaceae. Although further investigations are still needed to identify infrafamilial relationships within the monophyletic Tectariaceae and to redefine several problematic genera, we propose a working concept here that better reflects the inferred evolutionary history of this group.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100093, China

    Liu HongMei, Zhang XianChun & Chen ZhiDuan

  2. Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100039, China

    Liu HongMei

  3. South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510650, China

    Dong ShiYong

  4. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109-1048, USA

    Qiu YinLong

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  1. Liu HongMei
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  2. Zhang XianChun
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  3. Chen ZhiDuan
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  4. Dong ShiYong
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  5. Qiu YinLong
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Zhang XianChun or Chen ZhiDuan.

Additional information

Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 30121003 and 30228004), National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program No. 2007CB411600) and Wong Kuan Chung Education Foundation of Hong Kong

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Liu, H., Zhang, X., Chen, Z. et al. Polyphyly of the fern family Tectariaceae sensu Ching: insights from cpDNA sequence data. SCI CHINA SER C 50, 789–798 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-007-0099-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-007-0099-9

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