Revisiting the phylogeny and taxonomy of the Pithecellobium clade (Leguminosae, Caesalpinioideae) with new generic circumscriptions.

We present the most complete molecular phylogeny to date of the Pithecellobium clade of subfamily Caesalpinioideae. This neotropical group was informally recognised (as the Pithecellobium alliance) at the end of the 20th century by Barneby and Grimes (1996) and includes five genera and 33 species distributed from the southern United States and Caribbean Islands to north-eastern South America. Our aims were to further test the monophyly of the group and its genera and to identify sister group relationships within and amongst the genera. A phylogenetic analysis of nuclear ribosomal DNA sequences (ITS and ETS) was performed. The results provide further support for the monophyly of the Pithecellobium clade. The genera Ebenopsis, Pithecellobium and Sphinga were strongly supported as monophyletic. Havardia and Painteria were found to be non-monophyletic, prompting their re-circumscriptions and the description of two new genera: Gretheria and Ricoa. New combinations are made for the three species transferred to the new genera.

A dated molecular phylogeny and biogeographical analysis reveals the evolutionary history of the trans-pacifically disjunct tropical tree genus Ormosia (Fabaceae).

The papilionoid legume genus Ormosia (Fabaceae) comprises about 150 species of trees and exhibits a striking disjunct geographical distribution between the New World- and Asian and Australasian wet tropics and subtropics. Modern classifications of Ormosia are not grounded on a well-substantiated phylogenetic hypothesis and have been limited to just portions of the geographical range of the genus. The lack of an evolutionarily-based foundation for systematic studies has hindered taxonomic work on the genus and prevented the testing of biogeographical hypotheses related to the origin of the Old World/New World disjunction and the individual dispersal histories within both areas. Here, we present the most comprehensively sampled molecular phylogeny of Ormosia to date, based on analysis of both nuclear (ITS) and plastid (matK and trnL-F) DNA sequences from 82 species of the genus. Phylogenetically-based divergence times and ancestral range estimations are employed to test hypotheses related to the biogeographical history of the genus. We find strong support for the monophyly of Ormosia and the grouping of all sampled Asian species of the genus into two comparably sized clades, one of which is sister to another large clade containing all sampled New World species. Within the New World clade, additional resolution supports the grouping of most species into three mutually exclusive subordinate clades. The remaining New World species form a fourth well-supported clade in the analyses of plastid sequences, but that result is contradicted by the analysis of ITS. With few exceptions the supported clades have not been previously recognized as taxonomic groups. The biogeographical analysis suggests that Ormosia originated in continental Asia and dispersed to the New World in the Oligocene or early Miocene via long-distance trans-oceanic dispersal. We reject the hypothesis that the inter-hemispheric disjunction in Ormosia resulted from fragmentation of a more continuous "Boreotropical" distribution since the dispersal post-dates Eocene climatic maxima. Both of the Old World clades appear to have originated in mainland Asia and subsequently dispersed into the Malay Archipelago and beyond, at least two lineages dispersing across Wallace's Line as far as the Solomon Islands and northeastern Australia. In the New World, the major clades all originated in Amazonia. Dispersal from Amazonia into peripheral areas in Central America, the Caribbean, and Extra-Amazonian Brazil occurred multiple times over varying time scales, the earliest beginning in the late Miocene. In a few cases, these dispersals were followed by local diversification, but not by reverse migration back to Amazonia. Within each of the two main areas of distribution, multiple modest bouts of oceanic dispersal were required to achieve the modern distributions.

Dispersal assembly of rain forest tree communities across the Amazon basin.

We investigate patterns of historical assembly of tree communities across Amazonia using a newly developed phylogeny for the species-rich neotropical tree genus Inga We compare our results with those for three other ecologically important, diverse, and abundant Amazonian tree lineages, Swartzia, Protieae, and Guatteria Our analyses using phylogenetic diversity metrics demonstrate a clear lack of geographic phylogenetic structure, and show that local communities of Inga and regional communities of all four lineages are assembled by dispersal across Amazonia. The importance of dispersal in the biogeography of Inga and other tree genera in Amazonian and Guianan rain forests suggests that speciation is not driven by vicariance, and that allopatric isolation following dispersal may be involved in the speciation process. A clear implication of these results is that over evolutionary timescales, the metacommunity for any local or regional tree community in the Amazon is the entire Amazon basin.

A molecular phylogeny reveals the Cuban enigmatic genus Behaimia as a new piece in the Brongniartieae puzzle of papilionoid legumes.

The papilionoid legume tribe Brongniartieae comprises a collection of 15 genera with disparate morphologies that were previously positioned in at least four remotely related tribes. The Brongniartieae displays a wide geographical disjunction between Australia and the New World and previous phylogenetic studies had provided conflicting results about the relationships between the American and Australian genera. We carry out phylogenetic analyses of (1) a plastid matK dataset extensively sampled across legumes to solve the enigmatic relationship of the Cuban-endemic monospecific genus Behaimia; and (2) multilocus datasets with focus on all genera ever referred to Brongniartieae. These analyses resulted in a well-resolved and strongly-supported phylogenetic tree of the Brongniartieae. The monophyly of all American genera of Brongniartieae is strongly supported. The doubtful position of the Australian genus Plagiocarpus is resolved within a clade comprising all Australian genera. Behaimia has been traditionally classified in tribe Millettieae, but our new molecular data and re-assessment of morphological traits have resolved the genus within the early-branching papilionoid tribe Brongniartieae. Characters including the pinnately multifoliolate (vs. unifoliolate) leaves, a sessile (vs. stipitate) ovary, and an indehiscent or late dehiscent one-seeded pod distinguish Behaimia from its closer relatives, the South American genera Cyclolobium and Limadendron.

A molecular-dated phylogeny and biogeography of the monotypic legume genus Haplormosia, a missing African branch of the otherwise American-Australian Brongniartieae clade.

A comprehensively sampled reassessment of the molecular phylogeny of the genistoid legumes questions the traditional placement of Haplormosia, an African monotypic genus traditionally classified within tribe Sophoreae close to the Asian-American geographically disjunct genus Ormosia. Plastid matK sequences placed Haplormosia as sister to the American-Australian tribe Brongniartieae. Despite a superficial resemblance between Haplormosia and Ormosia, a re-examination of the morphology of Haplormosia corroborates the new phylogenetic result. The reciprocally monophyletic deep divergence of the Haplormosia stem lineage from the remaining Brongniartieae is dated to ca. 52Mya, thus supporting a signature of an old single long-distance dispersal during the early Eocene. Conversely, we estimated a relatively recent long-distance dispersal rooted in the Early Miocene for the Australian Brongniartieae clade emerging from within a grade of American Brongniartieae. The Bayesian ancestral area reconstruction revealed the coming and going of neotropical ancestors during the diversification history of the Brongniartieae legumes in Africa and all over the Americas and Australia.

Molecular phylogenetics of the species-rich neotropical genus Swartzia (Leguminosae, Papilionoideae) and related genera of the swartzioid clade.

Swartzia (ca. 180 spp.) is a characteristic and diverse element of neotropical rainforest tree communities. As such, it has been identified as a focal group in studies of evolutionary diversification and community assembly in rainforests. However, progress is impeded by the lack of a phylogenetic hypothesis for the genus and its close relatives, which together constitute the descendents of one of the first branches of the papilionoid phylogeny. Here we present a molecular phylogenetic study with extensive sampling of species of Swartzia and with complete sampling of genera of the "swartzioid" clade. The results, based on analysis of chloroplast (atpB-rbcL, trnL intron, and trnL-F) and nuclear (AAT1 and ITS) DNA sequences, add substantially to our understanding of relationships within this diverse group and call for taxonomic changes, particularly within Swartzia. The monophyly of a redefined Swartzia is weakly to moderately supported. Within Swartzia, the analyses identify 11 nonoverlapping subclades, few of which correspond exactly to previously published taxa. The analyses support the recent segregations of Bobgunnia from Swartzia and of Trischidium from Bocoa, as well as the resurrection of the monospecific genus Fairchildia. The analyses identify a "core swartzioid" clade comprising the remainder of Swartzia, Bocoa, and Candolleodendron.