Polyphyly of the fern family Tectariaceae sensu Ching: insights from cpDNA sequence data

Abstract

Tectariaceae are a pantropical fern family of about 20 genera, among which 8 are distributed in China. The morphological distinctiveness of the family is widely recognized, yet relatively little systematic research has been conducted on members of Tectariaceae. Phylogenetic analyses of chloroplast DNA sequence data (rbcL and atpB) from 15 species representing all 8 genera in China were carried out under parsimony criteria and Bayesian inference. The phylogenetic reconstructions indicated that the fern family Tectariaceae as traditionally circumscribed are polyphyletic. Ctenitis, Dryopsis, Lastreopsis clustered with and should be included within the newly-defined Dryopteridaceae, and Pleocnemia is also tentatively assigned to it. A narrowly monophyletic Tectariaceae is identified, which includes Ctenitopsis, Hemigramma, Pteridrys, Quercifilix, and Tectaria. In the single rbcL analysis, Arthropteris clustered with the above-mentioned monophyletic Tectariaceae. Although further investigations are still needed to identify infrafamilial relationships within the monophyletic Tectariaceae and to redefine several problematic genera, we propose a working concept here that better reflects the inferred evolutionary history of this group.

Circumscription and phylogeny of the fern family Tectariaceae based on plastid and nuclear markers, with the description of two new genera: Draconopteris and Malaifilix (Tectariaceae)

“…-Based on previous studies (Liu & al., 2007a(Liu & al., , 2013(Liu & al., , 2014Ding & al., 2013Ding & al., , 2014Wang & al., 2014;, all currently recognized genera of Tectariaceae and Arthropteridaceae (Arthropteris, Hypoderris, Pteridrys, Tectaria, Triplophyllum) were sampled. We included 18 accessions representing ca.…”

“…(2014) placed it in Tectariaceae and Tectarioideae, respectively. Taxon sampling in molecular studies with Arthropteris included so far has not been adequate to resolve the relationships between Arthropteris and other genera of Tectariaceae (Hasebe & al., 1994(Hasebe & al., , 1995Liu & al., 2007aLiu & al., , 2013Schuettpelz & Pryer, 2007;Ding & al., 2014;Wang & al., 2014;. Moreover, all previous molecular studies investigating this problem have only utilized plastid data.…”

Analysis of plastid and nuclear DNA data in plant phylogenetics—evaluation and improvement

“…A robust and wellsupported phylogenetic tree is a prerequisite for understanding and explaining many life phenomena, otherwise erroneous conclusions will be generated in an incorrect phylogenetic context. Plastid (cp) and nuclear (nr) genomes are the most frequently used sources of genetic data for reconstructing the phylogeny of plant groups [10][11][12][13][14]. However, certain evolutionary events, such as gene duplication, hybridization, and lineage sorting of ancestral polymorphisms, may result in conflicting topologies based on data sets from these two genomes at all taxonomic levels [12,15,16].…”

New combinations in the fern genus Tectaria (Tectariaceae) for the Flora of China

“…Currently the family is considered to be composed of ca 10 genera (Aenigmopteris, Arthropteris, Heterogonium, Hypoderris, Pleocnemia, Psammiosorus, Psomiocarpa, Pteridrys, Tectaria and Triplophyllum). The genera Ataxipteris, Ctenitis, Dryopsis and Lastreopsis, previously associated with Tectariaceae, are now considered to belong to the Dryopteridaceae (Smith et al 2006), and Liu et al (2007) also placed Pleocnemia tentatively in that family. Arthropteris and Psammiosorus form a group sister to the rest of Tectariaceae (Hasebe et al 1995), and for this reason are placed there (Liu et al 2007), even though this makes the family difficult to define morphologically (Smith et al 2006).…”

“…The genera Ataxipteris, Ctenitis, Dryopsis and Lastreopsis, previously associated with Tectariaceae, are now considered to belong to the Dryopteridaceae (Smith et al 2006), and Liu et al (2007) also placed Pleocnemia tentatively in that family. Arthropteris and Psammiosorus form a group sister to the rest of Tectariaceae (Hasebe et al 1995), and for this reason are placed there (Liu et al 2007), even though this makes the family difficult to define morphologically (Smith et al 2006). Genera such as Amphiblestra, Camptodium, Chlamydogramme, Cionidium, Ctenitopsis, Dictyoxiphium, Fadyenia, Hemigramma, Pleuroderris, Pseudotectaria Tectaria sagenioides (Mett.)…”