Abstract Detail

Systematics Section/ASPT

Majure, Lucas [1], Judd, Walter [2], Ionta, Gretchen [3], Skean Jr, J [4], Becquer, Eldis R. [5], Burke, Janelle [6], Penneys, Darin S. [7], Ocampo, Gilberto [8], Alvear, Marcela [9], Goldenberg, Renato [10], Almeda, Frank [11], Michelangeli, Fabian [12].

Evaluating morphological evolution in tribe Miconieae (Melastomataceae): homoplasy is the rule not the exception.

Tribe Miconieae consists of approximately 1800 species distributed throughout the humid, lowland and montane Neotropics. Species within this tribe are currently recognized in 20 genera based on traditional morphological characters. Recent phylogenetic work has shown that most of these genera are polyphyletic and nested within the large genus Miconia. We coded 121 morphological characters for 476 taxa and mapped those on a molecular phylogeny to test whether those morphological features coincided with clades. We discovered that virtually every morphological character that has been used to recognize genera within the Miconieae was homoplasious, having evolved numerous times in most cases, which is why most currently recognized genera also are not monophyletic. For example, hypanthia exhibiting long to short, multicelluar hairs have evolved at least 38 times, axillary inflorescences have evolved 26 times, acute to acuminate petal apices have evolved 20 times, cauliflory has evolved 14 times, epiphytism has evolved 10 times and leaf ant domatia have evolved 9 times. Thus, the recognition of traditional genera within Miconieae is not supported by morphology-based methods. However, clades (which sometimes reflect traditional infrageneric taxa) are generally recognizable based on morphological synapomorphies or at least suites of characters unique to those species groups. A broader circumscribed Miconia is the most workable solution to this problem, and all of these taxa can be recognized by the berry fruit, absence of megastyloid crystals, and poorly developed anther appendages.

Broader Impacts:

Related Links:
website devoted to Tribe Miconieae

1 - University of Florida, Florida Museum Of Natural History, P.O. Box 117800, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA
2 - University of Florida, Department of Biology, 220 Bartram Hall, PO Box 118525, Gainesville, FL, 32611-8525, USA
3 - University of Florida, Department of Botany, 220 BARTRAM HALL, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA
4 - Albion College, Department of Biology, ALLENDALE, MI, 49224, USA
5 - Jardin Botanico Nacional, UNiversidad de La Habana, Botanico, Carretera "El Rocio" Km 3.5, Calabazar, Boyeros, La Habana, 19230, Cuba
6 - The New York Botanical Garden, 2900 Southern Blvd., Pfizer Lab, Bronx, NY, 10458, USA
7 - California Academy of Sciences, Botany, Golden Gate Park, 55 Music Concourse Drive , San Francisco, CA, 94118, USA
8 - California Academy of Sciences, 55 Music Concourse Dr., Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA, 94118, USA
9 - California Academy of Sciences, Department of Botany, 55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA, 94118, USA
10 - UNiversidade Federal do Parana, Botanica, Campus do Centro Polite´cnico, Curitiba, 81540, Brazil
11 - California Academy of Sciences, Department of Botany, 55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA, 94118, USA
12 - The New York Botanical Garden, Institute of Systematic Botany, 2900 Southern Blvd., Bronx, NY, 10458, USA

Keywords:
Melastomataceae
Miconia
Neotropics
Morphological evolution.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper:Papers for Sections
Session: 39
Location: Elmwood/Riverside Hilton
Date: Wednesday, July 31st, 2013
Time: 11:45 AM
Number: 39013
Abstract ID:300
Candidate for Awards:None