Gondwanan origin of the Dipterocarpaceae-Cistaceae-Bixaceae is supported by fossils, areocladograms, ecomorphological traits and tectonic-plate dynamics

Abstract

Highlights• It was proposed 40 years ago that the iconic Dipterocarps of Asia had a Gondwanan origin.• Yet current phylogenies place the origin of the Dipterocarpaceae and associated lineages at 100−85 million years ago, when all but a few Gondwanan plates had long since separated.• We created a molecular phylogeny for the superclade, Dipterocarpaceae-Sarcolaenaceae-Cistaceae-Pakaraimaea-Sphaerosepalaceae-Bixaceae-Cochlospermaceae, submitted it to areogram analysis, and then related this to when the major Gondwanan plates separated, with further support from fossil-morphological-ecological data and historic global circulation patterns.• We show that South America, Africa and Madagascar-India must have still been fused at the time this superclade arose and its three lineages must have arisen in various parts of NorthWest Gondwana (well) over 115 million years ago.• We conclude that all Dipterocarp-related clades had an African or South American origin with the Asian Dipterocarps originating in India overland via Africa and Madagascar.• Our results add to the growing body of evidence that Gondwana has been a major cradle for many floweringplant clades now spread throughout the globe and point to a much earlier origin for Angiosperms than is generally accepted, since the Dipterocarpaceae (Malvales) is not even considered a basal clade.