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The significance of Rouxopteris (Gleicheniaceae, Polypodiopsida): a new genus endemic to the Madagascan region

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Abstract

Gleichenia boryi is a poorly known species of Gleicheniaceae endemic to Madagascar and La Réunion Island. Although Kunze pointed out in his description that this fern was distinct from other Gleicheniaceae in its leaf morphology, the generic relationships of this fern have not been investigated until now. Taking advantage of DNA sequences obtained from a sample of this species obtained in La Réunion Island and a sample of the type species Gl. polypodioides, we tested the hypothesis that the morphological distinction reflects the phylogenetic isolation of Gl. boryi. By reconstructing the phylogenetic relationships and divergence time estimates, we were able to show that this fern is not closely related to Gleichenia s.s. and represents a distinct lineage segregated from other Gleicheniaceae since the Cretaceous. Thus, a new generic name Rouxopteris (gen. nov.) and a new combination R. boryi (comb. nov.) are introduced to improve the generic classification of this family. We also discussed the evolutionary history of the Gleicheniaceae in the context of the Cretaceous terrestrial revolution.

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Acknowledgements

Fieldwork in La Réunion Island was supported by the Conservatoire Botanique National de Mascarin, Parc National de La Réunion and the Universite de la Réunion. The study was financially supported by a Marie Curie Fellowship (PIEF-GA-2008-200447), a Darwin Now Award from the British Council (2009) and Recruitment Program of Global Experts (WQ2017530454), all three awarded to SH, and by projects from Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences (2017XTBG-T03, 2017XTBG-F05) and funding from the Scientific Research Program of Sino-Africa Joint Research Center (SAJC201607). We thank Edmond Grangaud and Jean-Maurice Tamon for their kind support during visits to La Réunion.

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  1. Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, 666303, Yunnan, China

    Hongmei Liu

  2. Muséum national d’Historie naturelle, UMR 7205 CNRS-MNHN-UPMC-EPHE Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité - ISYEB, 57 rue Cuvier, CP39, 75231, Paris, France

    France Rakotondrainibe

  3. Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB), Sorbonne Université, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, CNRS, EPHE, Université des Antilles, 57 rue Cuvier, 75005, Paris, France

    Sabine Hennequin

  4. Center for Integrative Conservation, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, 666303, Yunnan, China

    Harald Schneider

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606_2020_1657_MOESM1_ESM.nex

Supplementary material 1 Molecular Dataset used to reconstruct the Phylogenetic Hypothesis: Dataset includes all rbcL seqeunces given as a nexus format (NEX 56 kb)

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Online Resource 1. Aligned matrix of rbcL sequences used in the study.

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Liu, H., Rakotondrainibe, F., Hennequin, S. et al. The significance of Rouxopteris (Gleicheniaceae, Polypodiopsida): a new genus endemic to the Madagascan region. Plant Syst Evol 306, 30 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-020-01657-9

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