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Phylogeny, Life History Evolution and Biogeography of the Rhinanthoid Orobanchaceae

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Abstract

Rhinanthoid Orobanchaceae form a monophyletic lineage that include the hemiparasitic genera Euphrasia, Melampyrum, Tozzia, Bartsia, Nothobartsia, Odontites (s.l.), Rhinanthus, Rhynchocorys, Parentucellia, Hedbergia and holoparasitic Lathraea. In this study, we aimed to reconstruct the phylogeny, evolution of life-history traits (life cycle and seed size) and explain the extant biogeographical patterns in this group. For phylogenetic reconstruction, we used molecular data obtained by sequencing the nuclear ITS region and the chloroplast trnT-trnL intergenic spacer and matK + trnK regions. The genus Melampyrum was found to occupy the sister position to the rest of the group. The other genera were assembled in the sister Rhinanthus-Rhynchocorys-Lathraea and Bartsia-Euphrasia-Odontites subclades. The reconstruction of life-cycle evolution yielded ambiguous results suggesting nonetheless a substantially higher likelihood of perenniality compared to annuality in most ancestor lineages. Seed size varied across two orders of magnitude (average weight per seed: 0.02–7.22 mg) and tended to decrease in the Bartsia-Euphrasia-Odontites subclade compared to the rest of the group. Seed-size evolution was correlated with life-history evolution in the group if the generally small-seeded Bartsia-Euphrasia-Odontites subclade is excluded. We formulated hypotheses relating the extant biogeographical affinities of individual genera to the geological history of the Euro-Caucasian diversity center of the group. Notable dispersal events in Euphrasia and Bartsia were hypothesized to be allowed or at least facilitated by a specific combination of the life-history traits.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Jitka Farská (Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia) for helping with field sampling, Petr Sklenář and Jiří Hadinec (Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague), Magnus Popp and Galina Gussarova (National Centre for Biosystematics, Oslo) for providing samples of South American Bartsia species, Tozzia alpina and East African specimens, Duncan D. Cameron (University of Sheffield) for his comments and suggestions and Jan Lepš (Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia) for general advice on ecology of hemiparasitic plants. This study was supported by a grant IAA601410805 from the Grant Agency of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, grant 206/08/H044 from the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic and grants LC06073 and 6007665801 from the Ministry of Education of the Czech Republic.

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  1. Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Branišovská 31, CZ-370 05, České Budějovice, Czech Republic

    Jakub Těšitel, Pavel Říha, Šárka Svobodová, Tamara Malinová & Milan Štech

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  1. Jakub Těšitel
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Correspondence to Jakub Těšitel.

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Těšitel, J., Říha, P., Svobodová, Š. et al. Phylogeny, Life History Evolution and Biogeography of the Rhinanthoid Orobanchaceae. Folia Geobot 45, 347–367 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12224-010-9089-y

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