What actually is Vriesea? A total evidence approach in a polyphyletic genus of Tillandsioideae (Bromeliaceae, Poales)

Abstract

The taxonomic delimitation of Vriesea is challenging because several diagnostic traits of the genus are shared with other genera in Tillandsioideae. The genus has no unique morphological features that distinguish it from other taxa. Earlier phylogenetic studies suggested a polyphyletic status of this genus, but taxon sampling was limited, and tests of congruence for morphological characters have not yet been performed. Here we used a total evidence approach and a more comprehensive Brazilian taxon sampling to help circumscribe Vriesea s.s. (the lineage that contains the type species). We concatenated morphological and molecular datasets for the first time to reconstruct phylogenetic hypotheses. We used 99 morphological characters and ~4 kb of plastid data (psbA‐trnH, trnK5′‐rps16, matK, trnL‐trnF) for 172 terminals, including nine genera of Tillandsioideae. We analysed datasets by parsimony analyses, with several weighting schemes considered for character‐state changes (equal weights and an implied weighting scheme that we used as a sensitivity analysis). The concatenated data resulted in a well‐resolved phylogenetic inference that provided strong evidence that the genus is not monophyletic as traditionally circumscribed. Given the congruence between morphological, molecular and geographical sources of data, we separated Vriesea into distinct lineages, and proposed a new circumscription that includes only species of Vriesea s.s. found in the Chacoan and Parana subregions.

What Do Nectarivorous Bats Like? Nectar Composition in Bromeliaceae With Special Emphasis on Bat-Pollinated Species

“…A schematic and simplified phylogenetic tree of all analyzed Bromeliaceae species combining molecular and morphological findings was established. The schematic tree was created using Mesquite 3.51; it is based on 23 different phylogenetic investigations of different molecular findings (Faria et al, 2004; Barfuss et al, 2005, 2016; Givnish, 2007; Horres et al, 2007; Hornung-Leoni et al, 2008; Almeida et al, 2009; Rex et al, 2009; Schulte et al, 2009; Chew et al, 2010; Jabaily and Sytsma, 2010; Sass and Specht, 2010; Givnish et al, 2011, 2014; Gomes-da-Silva et al, 2012; Versieux et al, 2012; Escobedo-Sarti et al, 2013; Costa et al, 2015; Evans et al, 2015; Pinzón et al, 2016; Schütz et al, 2016; Gomes-da-Silva and Souza-Chies, 2018; Moura et al, 2018). The pollinator type and the nectar composition (sugar ratio, amino acid concentration, concentration of inorganic ions) were mapped on the species level in order to visualize the phylogenetic distribution of bat-pollination.…”

“…The family is divided into eight subfamilies (Brocchinioideae, Lindmanioideae, Tillandsioideae, Hechtioideae, Navioideae, Bromelioideae, Puyoideae, Pitcairnioideae) which subsume approximately 58 genera and more than 3000 species (Givnish et al, 2011). The current taxonomie of Bromeliaceae is in strong flux due to newer morphological and genetic studies, so that new subfamilies or genera are created and species are frequently being assigned to other taxa (Zizka et al, 2013; Barfuss et al, 2016; Gomes-da-Silva and Souza-Chies, 2018). Bromeliads are adapted to various climates or other environmental conditions.…”

Novelties in the genus Viridantha Espejo (Tillandsioideae, Bromeliaceae)

“…The last taxonomic revision for Tillandsioideae subfamily, based on multi-loci DNA sequences phylogeny, proposed to circumscribe Viridantha and the Tillandsia tectorum E. Morren complex as Tillandsia subgenus Viridantha (Espejo) W. Till & Barfuss (Barfuss et al 2016). However, some of the systematic changes proposed by Barfuss et al (2016) were not supported by molecular and morphological data (Gomes-da-Silva and Souza-Chies 2017).…”

“…It should be mentioned that, in all the phylogenies reconstructed so far, Tillandsia emerged as polyphyletic (Gardner 1986; Terry et al 1997; Horres et al 2000; Barfuss et al 2004, 2005; Barfuss 2012; Barfuss et al 2016; Gomes-da-Silva and Souza-Chies 2017) or paraphyletic (Terry and Brown 1996; Benzing et al 2000; Givnish et al 2007; Donadío et al 2015) and, consequently, its validity as a formal taxonomic entity (genus) is unacceptable. On the other hand, Viridantha has always been monophyletic and related to the Tillandsia tectorum complex (Barfuss et al 2004, 2005, 2016; Barfuss 2012).…”

The Unique Amphipoda and Tanaidacea (Crustacea: Peracarida) Associated With the Brown Algae Dictyota sp. From the Oceanic Trindade Island, Southwestern Atlantic, With Biogeographic and Phylogenetic Insights

“…Data matrix of discrete characters was constructed using MorphoBank 3.0 (O' Leary and Kaufman, 2012), and continuous characters were subsequently added at the data file. We adopted the parsimony criterion and performed phylogenetic reconstructions in TNT version 1.1 (Goloboff et al, 2008). A heuristic analysis was conducted using the traditional search algorithm, with 8,000 replications and 500 trees held per replicate.…”