Almeidea A. St.-Hil. Belongs to Conchocarpus J.C. Mikan (Galipeinae, Rutaceae): Evidence from Morphological and Molecular Data, with a First Analysis of Subtribe Galipeinae

Abstract

Subtribe Galipeinae (tribe Galipeeae, subfamily Rutoideae) is the most diverse group of Neotropical Rutaceae, with 28 genera and approximately 130 species. One of its genera is Almeidea, whose species are morphologically similar to those of the genus Conchocarpus. Species of Almeidea occur in the Atlantic Rain Forest of Eastern Brazil, with one species (Almeidea rubra) also present in Bolivia. The objective of this study was to perform a phylogenetic analysis of Almeidea, using a broader sampling of Galipeinae and other Neotropical Rutaceae, the first such study focused on this subtribe. To achieve this objective, morphological data and molecular data from the nuclear markers ITS-1 and ITS-2 and the plastid markers trnL-trnF and rps16 were obtained. Representatives of eight genera of Galipeinae and three genera of Pilocarpinae (included also in Galipeeae) and Hortia (closely related to Galipeeae) were used. Five species of Almeidea and seven of Conchocarpus were included, given the morphological proximity between these two genera. Individual (for each molecular marker) and combined phylogenetic analyses were made, using parsimony and Bayesian inference as optimization criteria. Results showed Galipeinae as monophyletic, with the species of Almeidea also monophyletic (supported by the presence of pantocolporate pollen) and nested in a clade with a group of species of Conchocarpus, a non-monophyletic group. Additionally, C. concinnus appeared in a group with Andreadoxa, Erythrochiton, and Neoraputia, other members of Galipeinae. As a result, Conchocarpus would be monophyletic only with the exclusion of a group of species related to C. concinnus and with the inclusion of all species of Almeidea with the group of species of Conchocarpus that includes its type species, C. macrophyllus. Thus, species of Almeidea are transferred to Conchocarpus, and the new combinations are made here.

Tackling pollination of tubular flowers in Rutaceae and a case study of Conchocarpus rubrus (Galipeinae, Rutaceae)

“…Regarding its ecological function, the observations of ants exploring the nectar produced in sepals of C. rubrus, which aggressively react once the plant is touched, indicate that these nectaries might play a role in the anti-herbivore defense of this species, as reported for other groups of plants with EFN (Heil and McKey 2003). Nectaries in similar position were reported for other species of Conchocarpus (Bruniera et al 2015); however, no detail on its structure has been described so far.…”

“…On the contrary, the evolution of floral tubes in the Galipeinae seems to constitute a unique event among the Neotropical Rutoideae (Groppo et al 2008;Bruniera et al 2015). But differently from the Boronieae, the evolution of tubular flower in this group was likely influenced by more functional groups of nectar-foraging pollinators.…”

Phylogeny and circumscription of Dasyphyllum (Asteraceae: Barnadesioideae) based on molecular data with the recognition of a new genus, Archidasyphyllum

“…We selected and amplified three regions previously used to infer the phylogenetic relationships in Barnadesioideae: trn L- trn F using primers “c” and “f” (Taberlet et al, 1991); psb A- trn H using primers “psbAF” and “trnHR” (Sang, Crawford & Stuessy, 1997); and ITS using primers 18s F and 26s R (Gruenstaeudl et al, 2009). PCR reaction mixtures and purification were carried out after as per Bruniera, Kallunki & Groppo (2015). Thermal cycling for plastid amplification was performed using initial denaturation at 94 °C (8 min), followed by 30 cycles at 94 °C (1 min), 54 °C (1 min), 72 °C, (2 min), ending with an elongation at 72 °C (3 min).…”

“…Bootstrapping was implemented with 1,000 pseudoreplicates, 10,000 random taxon addition, and TBR branch-swapping algorithm. Bootstrap (BP) support values in the following ranges were considered strong (>88%), moderate (76–87%), weak (63–75%), and ambiguous (<63%) following Bruniera, Kallunki & Groppo (2015).…”

Ontogenia de frutos em Galipeeae (Rutoideae, Rutaceae)

“…apontam que os frutos deiscentes com endocarpo elástico são ancestrais em Galipeeae, sendo os frutos baga (em Hortia) e sâmara (em Balfourodendron) provavelmente derivados deste tipo ancestral.Até o momento existem poucos trabalhos publicados sobre a anatomia dos frutos de representantes de Rutaceae dentro de um contexto evolutivo e também de estudos ontogenéticos tanto de órgãos vegetativos como reprodutivos(Cruz 2013). A tribo foi selecionada, pois representa a variação de frutos para este estudo.Embora haja várias propostas de classificação para a família Rutaceae, as sinapomorfias para os grupos não são evidentes, sendo muitas vezes constituídos por caracteres homoplásticos(Groppo et al 2008;Morton & Telmer, 2014;Bruniera et al 2015).Zanthoxylum rhoifolium Lam. (Rutoideae, tribo Zanthoxyleae), foi usado como grupo externo para comparação com os resultados pois representa um grupo distante filogeneticamente para a tribo (Groppo et alin prep.).…”