Ancient Vicariance or Recent Long‐Distance Dispersal? Inferences about Phylogeny and South American–African Disjunctions in Rapateaceae and Bromeliaceae Based onndhF Sequence Data

Abstract

Rapateaceae and Bromeliaceae each have a center of diversity in South America and a single species native to a sandstone area in west Africa that abutted the Guayana Shield in northern South America before the Atlantic rifted. They thus provide ideal material for examining the potential role of vicariance versus long-distance dispersal in creating amphiatlantic disjunctions. Analyses based on ndhF sequence variation indicate that Rapateaceae and Bromeliaceae are each monophyletic and underwent crown radiation around 41 and 23 Ma, respectively. Both exhibit clocklike sequence evolution, with bromeliads evolving roughly one-third more slowly than rapateads. Among rapateads, the divergence of west African Maschalocephalus dinklagei from its closest South American relatives implies that Maschalocephalus resulted via long-distance dispersal 7 Ma, not ancient continental drift; only its sandstone habitat is vicariant. Rapateads arose first at low elevations in the Guayana Shield; the earliest divergent genera are widespread along riverine corridors there and, to a lesser extent, in Amazonia and the Brazilian Shield. Speciation at small spatial scales accelerated 15 Ma with the invasion of high-elevation, insular habitats atop tepuis. Among bromeliads, Pitcairnia feliciana diverges little from its congeners and appears to be the product of long-distance dispersal ca. 12 Ma. Brocchinia/Ayensua and then Lindmania are sister to all other bromeliads, indicating that the Guayana Shield was also the cradle of the bromeliads. Three lineages form an unresolved trichotomy representing all other bromeliads: (1) Tillandsioideae, (2) Hechtia, and (3) a large clade including remaining genera of Pitcairnioideae and all Bromelioideae. The last includes a clade of pitcairnioid genera endemic to the Guayana and Brazilian Shields; a xeric group (Abromeitiella/Deuterocohnia/Dyckia/Encholirium/Fosterella) from southern South America and the southern Andes, sister to Pitcairnia; and Andean Puya, sister to Bromelioideae, with many of the latter native to the Brazilian Shield. Both Rapateaceae and Bromeliaceae appear to have arisen at low elevations in the Guayana Shield, experienced accelerated speciation after invading dissected mountainous terrain, and undergone long-distance dispersal to west Africa recently. Bromeliad acquisition of key adaptations to drought (e.g., CAM photosynthesis, tank habit, tillandsioid leaf trichomes) 17 Ma appears to have coincided with and help cause the centripetal invasion of drier, more seasonal regions beyond the Guayana Shield, resulting in a wider familial range and dominance of the epiphytic adaptive zone. Geology, past and present climate, and proximity to South America help account for both families occurring in nearly the same area of Africa. We present a new classification for Rapateaceae, including a new tribe Stegolepideae, a new subfamily Monotremoideae, and revisions to tribe Saxofridericieae and subfamily Rapateoideae.

Dispersals of Hyoscyameae and Mandragoreae (Solanaceae) from the New World to Eurasia in the early Miocene and their biogeographic diversification within Eurasia

“…Recently, several molecular studies based on robust phylogenies and divergence time estimates suggest the importance of long-distance dispersal for some intercontinental disjunctions at the species or the genus level (Dick et al, 2007;Givnish et al, 2004;Nie et al, 2005;Schaefer et al, 2009;Wen and Ickert-Bond, 2009;Yokoyama et al, 1998). Long-distance dispersal between continents can be mediated by migratory animals, extreme meteorological phenomena, ocean currents, floating islands, or winds (Houle, 1998(Houle, , 1999Nathan et al, 2008;Renner, 2004;Winkworth et al, 2002).…”

Padrões de distribuição geográfica das espécies de Chamaecrista sect. Chamaecrista ser. Coriaceae (Benth.) H. S. Irwin & Barneby, Leguminosae - Caesalpinioideae

“…Na última década, datações sobre filogenias moleculares em vários grupos de angiospermas têm levado a inferências de dispersão a longa distância como processo prevalecente, sobretudo nas disjunções intercontinentais, devido às idades obtidas de origem e/ou diversificação dos grupos serem mais recentes que as de grandes eventos geológicos como os relacionados à deriva continental (e.g. Givnish et al 2004, 2011, Lomolino et al 2006. No caso da disjunção aqui apresentada, a dispersão a longa distância também pode ser invocada, como nos casos de Bromeliaceae e Rapateaceae (Givnish et al 2004, 2011, Berry & Riina 2005 Giulietti & Pirani (1988) já indicava essa situação para a série.…”

“…Givnish et al 2004, 2011, Lomolino et al 2006. No caso da disjunção aqui apresentada, a dispersão a longa distância também pode ser invocada, como nos casos de Bromeliaceae e Rapateaceae (Givnish et al 2004, 2011, Berry & Riina 2005 Giulietti & Pirani (1988) já indicava essa situação para a série. A associação da alta riqueza específica do grupo no setor mineiro da Cadeia do Espinhaço ao fato de apenas cinco espécies do grupo se estenderem até a Chapada Diamantina, o setor norte da Cadeia, reforça a hipótese de existência de uma barreira de migração entre esses blocos, proposta por Harley (1988).…”

Morphological Phylogenetic Analysis of Two Early-Diverging Genera of Bromelioideae (Bromeliaceae)

“…The Bromelioideae is the subfamily that has diverged more recentely among Bromeliaceae lineages, and frequently emerges as monophyletic and sister to Puyoideae (Givnish et al 2004(Givnish et al , 2007(Givnish et al , 2011Evans et al 2015). About 85% of the more than 860 species of Bromelioideae occur in Brazil, with the major center of diversity in the Atlantic Forest (Martinelli et al 2008;Forzza et al 2014).…”