Castela (Simaroubaceae), an impressive New World radiation of thorny shrubs destined for edaphically dry habitats

Majure, Lucas C.; Blankenship, Allison; Grinage, Ayress; Noa-Monzón, Alfredo

doi:10.1007/s40415-021-00742-8

Cited by 9 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…The formation of the biodiverse Caribbean flora, especially that of the Greater Antilles (Acevedo‐Rodríguez & Strong, 2008), has resulted from a complex combination of long‐distance dispersal events and in‐situ radiations (Santiago‐Valentín & Olmstead, 2004; Nieto‐Blázquez & al., 2017; Majure & al., 2021b,c; Veltjen & al., 2022; Majure & al., in press)—meanwhile, the plausibility of GAARlandia's effect on the flora, as well as many groups of vertebrates and invertebrates, has not been well supported (Cadek & al., 2019; Ali & Hedges, 2021; Veltjen & al., 2022). Apparently, the Melocactus flora of the Greater Antilles also has had a complicated history.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The poorly studied SDTF of the Greater Antilles is a biodiversity hotspot and a major center of diversity for a number of taxa, including the taxa Castela (Majure & al., 2021c), Consolea (Majure & al., 2021b), Leptocereus (Barrios & al., 2020), Pilosocereus (Franck & al., 2019), Myrtaceae (Gentry, 1995), Croton and Zanthoxylum (Acevedo‐Rodríguez & Strong, 2012), among others. In a recent study, Majure & al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Phylogenomics of the Caribbean melocacti: Cryptic species and multiple invasions

Majure

Barrios

Díaz³

et al. 2022

TAXON

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The widespread Neotropical genus Melocactus of approximately 42 currently recognized species, is most diverse in eastern Brazil and the Greater Antilles, especially Cuba. Species delimitation is notoriously problematic in the group, although this is due in part to a lack of detailed systematic studies, as well as a severely cluttered nomenclatural history. To date, no comprehensive phylogenetic hypotheses have been generated for the clade, although some population genetic and morphological studies exist. We generated the largest phylogenetic dataset of Melocactus to date based on plastome data derived from a genome-skimming approach for 26 taxa, which provided a framework for understanding species limits and relationships among Caribbean species. Our timecalibrated phylogeny revealed a mid-Pleistocene origin for Melocactus, and we resolved three major clades, a Cuban clade, a mostly South American clade, and a widespread Caribbean clade, which also included some South American taxa. Our topology recovered the Cuban clade as sister to the rest of the species, although this placement was poorly supported, and several other Cuban species are scattered throughout the rest of the tree. Biogeographic analyses suggested multiple dispersal events from South America leading to the current diversity on Cuba, as well as other parts of the Antilles. Based on our phylogenetic results, previous hypotheses of species numbers and relationships in the Caribbean generated solely on morphology have, in some cases, been greatly underestimated. Our study shows that plastome data are effective for resolving clades and species limits in Melocactus, although future work will need to include broader sampling and larger datasets to fully resolve relationships in this complicated group of cacti. We describe one new cryptic species for Cuba, Melocactus santiagoensis sp. nov., and provide a new combination (Melocactus lagunaensis comb. & stat. nov.), based on our phylogenetic results and morphological data and typify numerous names in the genus. The genus Melocactus is another striking example of the exceptional diversity that has been generated in the poorly studied, seasonally dry tropical forest of the Greater Antilles.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phylogenomics of the Caribbean melocacti: Cryptic species and multiple invasions

Majure

Barrios

Díaz³

et al. 2022

TAXON

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“…Rather, we acknowledge the possibility of peripheral isolate speciation, in which a species may form a clade nested within another, rendering the latter species paraphyletic (cladospecies vs. paraspecies; e.g. Sharples and Tripp 2019, Majure et al 2022, Murphy et al 2022). We also consider evidence from supporting criteria based in ecology and biogeography.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A New Endemic Smilax (Smilacaceae) from Tafelberg, Suriname, Supported by Morphometric and Phylogenetic Evidence

Murphy,

Heaton,

Molgo

et al. 2023

Systematic Botany

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Abstract— Taxonomy of Smilax in the Neotropics is poorly known with many undescribed species, unresolved synonymy, and regional treatments with conflicting taxon concepts. This issue is amplified in the Guiana Shield, which has arguably received the least amount of taxonomic research in Smilax. Here, we investigate multiple specimens from Tafelberg, Suriname that we hypothesized to represent an undescribed species. We used univariate and multivariate morphometrics to analyze linear measurements and leaf outlines to test if and how Tafelberg specimens differ from those of morphologically similar species in the Guiana Shield, Smilax lasseriana and S. maypurensis. We used a genome skimming approach to sequence and assemble plastomes, which also allowed us to extract plastid loci previously employed in Sanger-based studies and place the putative new species in a phylogeny with expanded taxon sampling. We recovered the Smilax from Tafelberg as more closely related to species with ranges centered in eastern Brazil than to its morphologically hypothesized congeners, S. lasseriana and S. maypurensis. We describe this new species as Smilax tafelbergensis with detailed morphological comparisons to similar taxa, a distribution map, and illustration.

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“…Phylogenetic studies and fossil records of various organismal groups from the western North American deserts have provided further evidence for the timing of the development of these systems, which were more completely formed later into the Plio- and Pleistocene [ 4 ], where presumably desert-adapted taxa would have necessarily occurred in a well-formed dryland system. The origin of arid-adapted taxa may have been uniquely within western North American drylands, from where they further expanded their distributions outside of the area [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 ], or the expansion may have followed a south- to northward migration (e.g., out of South America), as has commonly been detected for several lineages of plants [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution of the Xerocarpa clade (Opuntia; Opuntieae): Evidence for the Role of the Grand Canyon in the Biogeographic History of the Iconic Beavertail Cactus and Relatives

Majure

Murphy

Köhler

et al. 2023

Plants

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The formation of the western North American drylands has led to the evolution of an astounding diversity of species well adapted for such communities. Complex historical patterns often underlie the modern distribution of the flora and fauna of these areas. We investigated the biogeography of a group of desert-adapted prickly pears, known as the Xerocarpa clade, from western North America. The Xerocarpa clade originated in the mid-late Pliocene, likely on the Colorado Plateau, and then moved south into the Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan deserts, and California montane regions, further diversifying, mostly into the Quaternary. The southward trajectory of the clade was likely greatly influenced by the formation of the Grand Canyon. The synapomorphy of dry fruit presumably impeded the long-distance dispersibility of the beavertail cactus, Opuntia basilaris, while dry, spiny fruit may have enabled O. polyacantha to substantially increase its distribution. Opuntia basilaris evolved a pubescent epidermis, allowing it to invade hotter, drier conditions, while the spine-clothed stems of O. polyacantha may have given it an advantage for increasing its northern range into colder environments. The Xerocarpa clade shows a cold desert origin, and changes in morphological characters have made these sister taxa well adapted for invading broadscale, but oftentimes contrasting habitats.

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Castela (Simaroubaceae), an impressive New World radiation of thorny shrubs destined for edaphically dry habitats

Cited by 9 publications

References 40 publications

Phylogenomics of the Caribbean melocacti: Cryptic species and multiple invasions

Phylogenomics of the Caribbean melocacti: Cryptic species and multiple invasions

A New Endemic Smilax (Smilacaceae) from Tafelberg, Suriname, Supported by Morphometric and Phylogenetic Evidence

Evolution of the Xerocarpa clade (Opuntia; Opuntieae): Evidence for the Role of the Grand Canyon in the Biogeographic History of the Iconic Beavertail Cactus and Relatives

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