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Molecular phylogeny and taxonomic revision of the Philippine endemic Villaria Rolfe (Rubiaceae)

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Abstract

The little known Rubiaceae genus Villaria is endemic mostly to the coastal forests of the Philippines. Traditionally, it has been placed in the tribe Gardenieae. Later it was transferred to Octotropideae sensu Robbrecht and Puff. Villaria was placed among the “primitive” genera of the tribe, which are essentially characterized by large fruits, horizontal ovules and numerous seeds. Parsimony and Bayesian analyses of the combined plastid (rps16 and trnT-F) dataset strongly support the inclusion of Villaria in Octotropideae as well as monophyly of the genus. However, our molecular results do not conform to the current informal groups of the tribe delimited by fruit size, ovule position, number of seeds and exotesta thickenings. Instead, a close relationship between Villaria and two “central genera” (Hypobathrum and Pouchetia) is revealed for the first time. This clade is sister to a group comprising “primitive” (Fernelia), “advanced” (Kraussia and Polysphaeria) and “central” (Feretia) representatives. In addition, our combined tree strongly supports a sister taxa relationship between Canephora and Paragenipa. Villaria is characterized by unilocular ovaries, parietal placentation and strictly horizontal ovules. These features are unique within the Octotropideae. We recognize a total of five Villaria species, one new species (V. leytensis) is described here, and two species (V. philippinensis and V. rolfei) are transferred into synonymy with V. odorata. Each species is fully described, and a key to the species, a distribution map and illustrations are provided.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the following herbaria and their staff for providing loans and/or access to collections: A, CAHUP, G, GH, K, L, NY, P, PNH, PR, US and USTH. We are also grateful to three anonymous reviewers for helpful comments and suggestions. The first author thanks Angelika Täuber for guidance during the molecular work, Irma Mika for Latin translations, Nemecio Diego for some parts of the illustrations, the University of Santo Tomas, Manila, Philippines, for some financial support during the field collection; and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for a Postdoctoral Fellowship grant.

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  1. College of Science and Research Center for the Natural Sciences, University of Santo Tomas, España Boulevard, 1015, Manila, Philippines

    Grecebio Jonathan D. Alejandro

  2. Department of Plant Systematics, University of Bayreuth, Universitätstr. 30, 95440, Bayreuth, Germany

    Grecebio Jonathan D. Alejandro, Ulrich Meve & Sigrid Liede-Schumann

  3. CNRS UMR 6249 Chrono-environnement, UFR Sciences et Techniques, Université de Franche-Comté, 16 Route de Gray, 25030, Besançon cedex, France

    Arnaud Mouly

  4. Botany Department, Museum of Natural History Stuttgart, Rosenstein 1, 70191, Stuttgart, Germany

    Mike Thiv

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  1. Grecebio Jonathan D. Alejandro
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Correspondence to Grecebio Jonathan D. Alejandro.

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G.J.D. Alejandro dedicates this work to the late Eduardo P. de Leon, a good friend who made several collections of Villaria.

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Alejandro, G.J.D., Meve, U., Mouly, A. et al. Molecular phylogeny and taxonomic revision of the Philippine endemic Villaria Rolfe (Rubiaceae). Plant Syst Evol 296, 1–20 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-011-0472-9

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