Boreotropical range expansion and long-distance dispersal explain two amphi-Pacific tropical disjunctions in Sabiaceae

Abstract

Sabiaceae comprises three genera and ca. 80 species with an amphi-Pacific tropical disjunct distribution. It has been unclear whether the family is monophyletic, where the family belongs within the angiosperm phylogeny, and when and how is present-day disjunct distribution originated. To address these questions, we conducted a phylogenetic analysis of Sabiaceae with comprehensive sampling of the family and basal eudicots using six chloroplast DNA loci (atpB, rbcL, matK, ndhF, atpB-rbcL and trnL-trnF). Our results support the monophyly of Sabiaceae s. l. that includes three genera: Meliosma Blume, Ophiocaryon Endl. and Sabia Colebr. The placement of Sabiaceae as sister to Proteales receives moderate bootstrap support, and is corroborated by various alternative hypothesis tests. Within Sabiaceae, Ophiocaryon and Sabia were resolved as strongly supported clades, whereas Meliosma was paraphyletic with Ophiocaryon nested within it. The biogeographically disjunct accessions of Meliosma alba (which is alternatively known as Kingsboroughia alba (Schltdl.) Liebm.) sampled from southwestern China and Mexico form a monophyletic group. Molecular dating and ancestral area reconstruction suggest a Eurasian origin of Sabiaceae in the late Cretaceous and a boreotropical range expansion during Paleogene. Southward migrations were inferred from continental Eurasia to the Malesian region in Sabia and in the Asian Meliosma, and from Central America to South America in the Neotropical clade of Meliosma in response to climatic cooling after the late Miocene. A long distance dispersal from Central America to tropical Asia was suggested during the time at the Neogene and Quaternary boundary in Meliosma alba (now recognized as Kingsboroughia alba). Our results also support the recognition of Kingsboroughia Liebm. as a distinct genus to maintain the monophyly of each of the genera: Meliosma, Ophiocaryon and Sabia. Kingsboroughia along with Meliosma and Ophiocaryon constitutes the subfamily Meliosmoideae Mast., while Sabia is the sole genus of Sabioideae Y.W. Law & Y.F. Wu.

Fossil-Informed Models Reveal a Boreotropical Origin and Divergent Evolutionary Trajectories in the Walnut Family (Juglandaceae)

“…So far, these hypotheses have been mainly tested with either paleobotanical data ( Chaney 1947 , 1959 ; Wolfe 1975 ; Axelrod 1983 ) or phylogenetic analyses of living taxa ( Stanford et al 2000 ; Manos and Stanford 2001 ; Deng et al 2015 ; Wen et al 2016 ; Yang et al 2018 ). Many lineages (e.g., Fagus, Quercus, Castanea, Aesculus, Ulmus, Acer, Alnus, Juglans ) have fossil records at middle latitudes that predate their high latitude records, suggesting Boreotropical origins over Arcto-Tertiary origins ( Crepet and Daghlian 1980 ; Manchester 1987 , 1994 , 2001 ; Manchester and Dillhoff 2004 ; Denk and Dillhoff 2005 ; Wang et al 2010 ; Hofmann et al 2011 ; Manchester 2011 ).…”

A dated phylogeny of Lardizabalaceae reveals an unusual long‐distance dispersal across the Pacific Ocean and the rapid rise of East Asian subtropical evergreen broadleaved forests in the late Miocene

“…Cyclobalanopsis ( c. 8.3 Ma; Fagaceae; Deng et al, ). Additionally, several elements of East Asian subtropical EBLFs, such as Camellia ( c. 6.8 Ma; Theaceae; Yu et al, ); Coptis ( c. 6.5 Ma; Ranunculaceae; Xiang et al, ) and Sabia ( c. 7.9 Ma; Sabiaceae; Yang et al, ), also appear to have diverged during the same period. We therefore suggest that the late Miocene was a relevant period for the assembly and evolution of modern East Asian subtropical EBLFs.…”

Plastome phylogenomic insights into the Sino‐Japanese biogeography of Diabelia (Caprifoliaceae)

“…Understanding the causes of intercontinental or regional disjunctions in plant taxa remains a central question in biogeography (e.g., Raven & Axelrod, 1974;Donoghue, 2008;Nie et al, 2012Nie et al, , 2013Wen et al, 2013Wen et al, , 2016Fritsch et al, 2015;Yi et al, 2015;Thomas et al, 2017). Disjunct distributions are usually explained by either vicariance or long-distance dispersal (Wiley, 1980;Doyle et al, 2004;Yoder & Nowak, 2006;Thomas et al, 2017;Harris et al, 2018;Yang et al, 2018). Vicariance occurs due to range contraction of a previously more widely distributed species and the fragmentation of the suitable habitat (Yoder & Nowak, 2006;Thomas et al, 2017), and can lead to reductions in gene flow that might ultimately lead to speciation (Nelson & Platnick, 1981;Humphries & Parenti, 1986).…”

“…A number of plant disjunctions have been reported to have resulted from long‐distance dispersal, for example, in Ampelopsis Michaux and Cyphostemma (Planch.) Alston (Vitaceae) (Nie et al, 2012; Hearn et al, 2018), Loliinae (Poaceae) (Minaya et al, 2017), Loranthaceae (Liu et al, 2018), Sabiaceae (Yang et al, 2018), Urticeae (Urticaceae) (Huang et al, 2019), Carex L. (Cyperaceae) (Martín‐Bravo et al, 2019), and Omphalodeae (Boraginaceae) (Otero et al, 2019).…”