Precipitation is the main axis of tropical plant phylogenetic turnover across space and time.

Early natural historians-Comte de Buffon, von Humboldt, and De Candolle-established environment and geography as two principal axes determining the distribution of groups of organisms, laying the foundations for biogeography over the subsequent 200 years, yet the relative importance of these two axes remains unresolved. Leveraging phylogenomic and global species distribution data for Mimosoid legumes, a pantropical plant clade of c. 3500 species, we show that the water availability gradient from deserts to rain forests dictates turnover of lineages within continents across the tropics. We demonstrate that 95% of speciation occurs within a precipitation niche, showing profound phylogenetic niche conservatism, and that lineage turnover boundaries coincide with isohyets of precipitation. We reveal similar patterns on different continents, implying that evolution and dispersal follow universal processes.

The innovation of the symbiosome has enhanced the evolutionary stability of nitrogen fixation in legumes.

Nitrogen-fixing symbiosis is globally important in ecosystem functioning and agriculture, yet the evolutionary history of nodulation remains the focus of considerable debate. Recent evidence suggesting a single origin of nodulation followed by massive parallel evolutionary losses raises questions about why a few lineages in the N2 -fixing clade retained nodulation and diversified as stable nodulators, while most did not. Within legumes, nodulation is restricted to the two most diverse subfamilies, Papilionoideae and Caesalpinioideae, which show stable retention of nodulation across their core clades. We characterize two nodule anatomy types across 128 species in 56 of the 152 genera of the legume subfamily Caesalpinioideae: fixation thread nodules (FTs), where nitrogen-fixing bacteroids are retained within the apoplast in modified infection threads, and symbiosomes, where rhizobia are symplastically internalized in the host cell cytoplasm within membrane-bound symbiosomes (SYMs). Using a robust phylogenomic tree based on 997 genes from 147 Caesalpinioideae genera, we show that losses of nodulation are more prevalent in lineages with FTs than those with SYMs. We propose that evolution of the symbiosome allows for a more intimate and enduring symbiosis through tighter compartmentalization of their rhizobial microsymbionts, resulting in greater evolutionary stability of nodulation across this species-rich pantropical legume clade.

Boliviadendron, a new segregate genus of mimosoid legume (Leguminosae, Caesalpinioideae, mimosoid clade) narrowly endemic to the interior Andean valleys of Bolivia.

Phylogenetic analyses of DNA sequence data sampling all species of Leucochloron alongside representatives of genera of the Inga and Albizia clades of the larger ingoid clade of mimosoid legumes (sensu Koenen et al. 2020) confirm the non-monophyly of the genus Leucochloron. We show that Leucochloronbolivianum is placed in the Albizia clade, while the remaining four species of Leucochloron are placed in the Inga clade, in line with previous results. To rectify this non-monophyly, L.bolivianum is segregated as the new genus, Boliviadendron, with a single species, Boliviadendronbolivianum, narrowly endemic to the interior Andean valleys of Bolivia. We illustrate this new segregate genus, present a map of its distribution and discuss the striking lack of morphological distinctions between Boliviadendron and Leucochloron, as well as the phylogenetic and morphological affinities of Boliviadendron to the genera Enterolobium and Albizia.

A new generic circumscription of Hydrochorea (Leguminosae, Caesalpinioideae, mimosoid clade) with an amphi-Atlantic distribution.

Hydrochorea and Balizia were established to accommodate four and three species, respectively, that were previously included in different ingoid genera, based primarily on differences in fruit morphology. Both genera have Amazonia as their centre of diversity, extending to Central America and the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest. Previous phylogenetic evidence showed Balizia to be paraphyletic with respect to Hydrochorea, and species of Hydrochorea and Balizia were placed in a large unresolved polytomy with species of Jupunba. Here we present a new phylogenomic analysis based on 560 exons, from which 686 orthologous alignments were derived for gene tree inference. This analysis confirms a paraphyletic Balizia in relation to Hydrochorea, together with two African species formerly placed in Albizia nested within the clade. Jupunbamacradenia was resolved as sister to the clade combining those taxa. However, quartet support is low for several of the branches at the base of the clade combining the genera Jupunba, Balizia and Hydrochorea, suggesting that rapid initial divergence in this group led to extensive incomplete lineage sorting and consequently poor phylogenetic resolution. Because of these phylogenomic complexities, we decided to use morphology as the main guide to consider Hydrochorea as a distinct genus from Jupunba, and Balizia as a new synonym for Hydrochorea. The taxonomic treatment includes the study of collections from various herbaria and fieldwork expeditions. We present a re-circumscribed Hydrochorea accommodating a total of 10 species, including six new combinations, five new synonyms, one new taxonomic status, two corrections of nomenclature category for lectotypes, and a second step lectotype and three new lectotypes. A new species from the Brazilian Amazon is described and illustrated. An identification key for all species of Hydrochorea is presented, together with comments and illustrations.

Phylogenomic analysis of 997 nuclear genes reveals the need for extensive generic re-delimitation in Caesalpinioideae (Leguminosae).

Subfamily Caesalpinioideae with ca. 4,600 species in 152 genera is the second-largest subfamily of legumes (Leguminosae) and forms an ecologically and economically important group of trees, shrubs and lianas with a pantropical distribution. Despite major advances in the last few decades towards aligning genera with clades across Caesalpinioideae, generic delimitation remains in a state of considerable flux, especially across the mimosoid clade. We test the monophyly of genera across Caesalpinioideae via phylogenomic analysis of 997 nuclear genes sequenced via targeted enrichment (Hybseq) for 420 species and 147 of the 152 genera currently recognised in the subfamily. We show that 22 genera are non-monophyletic or nested in other genera and that non-monophyly is concentrated in the mimosoid clade where ca. 25% of the 90 genera are found to be non-monophyletic. We suggest two main reasons for this pervasive generic non-monophyly: (i) extensive morphological homoplasy that we document here for a handful of important traits and, particularly, the repeated evolution of distinctive fruit types that were historically emphasised in delimiting genera and (ii) this is an artefact of the lack of pantropical taxonomic syntheses and sampling in previous phylogenies and the consequent failure to identify clades that span the Old World and New World or conversely amphi-Atlantic genera that are non-monophyletic, both of which are critical for delimiting genera across this large pantropical clade. Finally, we discuss taxon delimitation in the phylogenomic era and especially how assessing patterns of gene tree conflict can provide additional insights into generic delimitation. This new phylogenomic framework provides the foundations for a series of papers reclassifying genera that are presented here in Advances in Legume Systematics (ALS) 14 Part 1, for establishing a new higher-level phylogenetic tribal and clade-based classification of Caesalpinioideae that is the focus of ALS14 Part 2 and for downstream analyses of evolutionary diversification and biogeography of this important group of legumes which are presented elsewhere.

Re-establishment of the genus Pseudalbizzia (Leguminosae, Caesalpinioideae, mimosoid clade): the New World species formerly placed in Albizia.

Following recent mimosoid phylogenetic and phylogenomic studies demonstrating the non-monophyly of the genus Albizia, we present a new molecular phylogeny focused on the neotropical species in the genus, with much denser taxon sampling than previous studies. Our aims were to test the monophyly of the neotropical section Arthrosamanea, resolve species relationships, and gain insights into the evolution of fruit morphology. We perform a Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of sequences of nuclear internal and external transcribed spacer regions and trace the evolution of fruit dehiscence and lomentiform pods. Our results find further support for the non-monophyly of the genus Albizia, and confirm the previously proposed segregation of Hesperalbizia, Hydrochorea, Balizia and Pseudosamanea. All species that were sampled from section Arthrosamanea form a clade that is sister to a clade composed of Jupunba, Punjuba, Balizia and Hydrochorea. We find that lomentiform fruits are independently derived from indehiscent septate fruits in both Hydrochorea and section Arthrosamanea. Our results show that morphological adaptations to hydrochory, associated with shifts into seasonally flooded habitats, have occurred several times independently in different geographic areas and different lineages within the ingoid clade. This suggests that environmental conditions have likely played a key role in the evolution of fruit types in Albizia and related genera. We resurrect the name Pseudalbizzia to accommodate the species of section Arthrosamanea, except for two species that were not sampled here but have been shown in other studies to be more closely related to other ingoid genera and we restrict the name Albizia s.s. to the species from Africa, Madagascar, Asia, Australia, and the Pacific. Twenty-one new nomenclatural combinations in Pseudalbizzia are proposed, including 16 species and 5 infraspecific varietal names. In addition to the type species Pseudalbizziaberteroana, the genus has 17 species distributed across tropical regions of the Americas, including the Caribbean. Finally, a new infrageneric classification into five sections is proposed and a distribution map of the species of Pseudalbizzia is presented.

Phylogenomic assessment prompts recognition of the Serianthes clade and confirms the monophyly of Serianthes and its relationship with Falcataria and Wallaceodendron in the wider ingoid clade (Leguminosae, Caesalpinioideae).

The Indo-Pacific legume genus Serianthes was recently placed in the Archidendron clade (sensu Koenen et al. 2020), a subclade of the mimosoid clade in subfamily Caesalpinioideae, which also includes Acacia, Archidendron, Archidendropsis, Falcataria, Pararchidendron, Paraserianthes and Wallaceodendron. Serianthes comprises ca. 18 species, five subspecies and two varieties that are characterised by bipinnately compound leaves with alternate sessile leaflets, branched axillary corymbiform panicles and woody indehiscent pods. Generic relationships, as well as species relationships within genera in the Archidendron clade, remain uncertain. While the sister relationship between Serianthes and the genus Falcataria is strongly supported by molecular data, the distinction between Serianthes and the monotypic genus Wallaceodendron has been questioned, based on their similar flower and fruit morphologies. We combined three gene-enriched hybrid capture DNA sequence datasets (generated from the 964 mimobaits v1 probe set, the expanded 997 mimobaits v2 probe set and the GoFlag angiosperm 408 probe set) and used their overlapping markers (77 loci of the target exonic and flanking regions) to test the monophyly of Serianthes and to investigate generic relationships within the Archidendron clade using 55 ingoid plus two outgroup taxa. We show that Serianthes is monophyletic, confirm the Serianthes + Falcataria sister relationship to Wallaceodendron and recognise this combined clade as the Serianthes clade within the Archidendron clade. We also evaluated the use of overlapping loci across datasets in combination with concordance analyses to test generic relationships and further investigate previously unresolved relationships across the wider ingoid clade. Concordance analysis revealed limited gene tree conflicts near the tips of the Archidendron clade, but increased discordance at the base of the clade, which could be attributed to rapid lineage divergence (radiation) and/or incomplete lineage sorting.

Dilemmas in generic delimitation of Senegalia and allies (Caesalpinioideae, mimosoid clade): how to reconcile phylogenomic evidence with morphology and taxonomy?

Senegalia comprises 219 species distributed in tropical and subtropical regions of North and South America, Africa, Asia and Australia. Two sections are currently recognised within Senegalia and these are most readily distinguished by the differences in disposition of their cauline prickles, i.e. sect. Senegalia with prickles at or near leaf nodes and sect. Monacanthea with mostly internodal prickles. Previous phylogenetic studies, based primarily on small numbers of plastid DNA loci, found Senegalia to be monophyletic with two large subclades corresponding to the sections. Here, we present new phylogenomic evidence from 997 single-copy nuclear gene sequences for a small, but representative set of species. These new analyses show that Senegalia is non-monophyletic, but instead, forms a grade that is paraphyletic with respect to the remainder of the ingoid clade (i.e. Ingeae + Acacia s.s. + Acaciella), comprising two well-supported subclades most likely representing the same clades as found in previous phylogenetic studies of the genus and, interspersed between these, a third, moderately supported clade, comprising the genera Mariosousa, Pseudosenegalia and Parasenegalia. In marked contrast to the nuclear phylogeny, the two Senegalia clades are sister groups in the plastid phylogeny, based on analyses of 72 chloroplast genes, rendering the genus monophyletic, based on plastid data alone. We discuss this new evidence that Senegalia is non-monophyletic in relation to the marked cytonuclear discordance, high gene tree conflict and lack of resolution across this senegalioid grade and review the consistency of the key morphological characters distinguishing the two sections of Senegalia. We conclude that it is likely that Senegalia will need to be split into two (or possibly more) genera: a re-circumscribed Senegalia s.s. that corresponds to the existing Senegaliasect.Senegalia plus the S.ataxacantha group (Senegaliasect.Monacanthea s.s.; future studies may show that this group warrants generic status) and a new genus corresponding to the remainder of sect. Monacanthea (here designated as Senegaliasect.Monacanthea p.p.). However, re-delimiting Senegalia now would be premature given that the key morphological characters are not fully congruent with the two sections and pending denser phylogenetic sampling of taxa. A judiciously selected list of critical taxa is presented to facilitate future phylogenomic studies. Finally, we discuss the identity of Albizialeonardii, which is also placed in this senegalioid grade in these new phylogenomic analyses and place it in synonymy with Parasenegaliavogeliana.

On the taxonomic affinity of Albiziacarbonaria Britton (Leguminosae, Caesalpinioideae-mimosoid clade).

Recent phylogenomic analyses placed Albiziacarbonaria Britton as the sister-group of the two currently known species of Pseudosamanea Harms, clearly outside AlbiziasectionArthrosamanea (Britton & Rose) Barneby & J.W. Grimes where it has until now been included. Its morphological similarities to Pseudosamanea are discussed, including characteristics of the polyad, and it is concluded that the species is compatible with the generic description of that genus except for its much more finely divided leaves with smaller leaflets, and its smaller flowers and fruits. Since these are merely quantitative differences, the species can readily be accommodated in Pseudosamanea. The new combination Pseudosamaneacarbonaria (Britton) E.J.M. Koenen is made, and a diagnosis distinguishing it from the other two species of Pseudosamanea is presented.

Osodendron gen. nov. (Leguminosae, Caesalpinioideae), a new genus of mimosoid legumes of tropical Africa.

The genus Osodendron is here newly described to accommodate three species and one subspecies of African mimosoid legumes. These taxa have previously been included by several authors in Albizia, Cathormion and/or Samanea, but they have been shown to be phylogenetically unrelated to any of these, being instead the sister-group of the recently described Neotropical genus Robrichia, which is similar in vegetative morphology and especially its very similar indumentum, but is decidedly different in pod morphology. A taxonomic treatment of the three species in the genus is presented, with species descriptions, photographs, distribution maps and an identification key. The type species Osodendronaltissimum (Hook. f.) E.J.M. Koenen occurs in swamp and riverine rainforest and gallery forests, with the typical subsp. altissimum widespread across tropical Africa, while Osodendronaltissimumsubsp.busiraensis (G.C.C. Gilbert) E.J.M. Koenen is only known from the Busira river catchment in the western part of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Of the other two species, Osodendrondinklagei (Harms) E.J.M. Koenen is a common tree of rainforest and the forest-savannah transition including semi-deciduous and secondary forest as well as gallery forest and is restricted to Upper Guinea and the similar, but vegetatively more variable Osodendronleptophyllum (Harms) E.J.M. Koenen occupies comparable vegetation types in Lower Guinea and extends marginally into the Sudanian and Zambezian savannahs in gallery forest.

The Origin of the Legumes is a Complex Paleopolyploid Phylogenomic Tangle Closely Associated with the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) Mass Extinction Event.

The consequences of the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary (KPB) mass extinction for the evolution of plant diversity remain poorly understood, even though evolutionary turnover of plant lineages at the KPB is central to understanding assembly of the Cenozoic biota. The apparent concentration of whole genome duplication (WGD) events around the KPB may have played a role in survival and subsequent diversification of plant lineages. To gain new insights into the origins of Cenozoic biodiversity, we examine the origin and early evolution of the globally diverse legume family (Leguminosae or Fabaceae). Legumes are ecologically (co-)dominant across many vegetation types, and the fossil record suggests that they rose to such prominence after the KPB in parallel with several well-studied animal clades including Placentalia and Neoaves. Furthermore, multiple WGD events are hypothesized to have occurred early in legume evolution. Using a recently inferred phylogenomic framework, we investigate the placement of WGDs during early legume evolution using gene tree reconciliation methods, gene count data and phylogenetic supernetwork reconstruction. Using 20 fossil calibrations we estimate a revised timeline of legume evolution based on 36 nuclear genes selected as informative and evolving in an approximately clock-like fashion. To establish the timing of WGDs we also date duplication nodes in gene trees. Results suggest either a pan-legume WGD event on the stem lineage of the family, or an allopolyploid event involving (some of) the earliest lineages within the crown group, with additional nested WGDs subtending subfamilies Papilionoideae and Detarioideae. Gene tree reconciliation methods that do not account for allopolyploidy may be misleading in inferring an earlier WGD event at the time of divergence of the two parental lineages of the polyploid, suggesting that the allopolyploid scenario is more likely. We show that the crown age of the legumes dates to the Maastrichtian or early Paleocene and that, apart from the Detarioideae WGD, paleopolyploidy occurred close to the KPB. We conclude that the early evolution of the legumes followed a complex history, in which multiple auto- and/or allopolyploidy events coincided with rapid diversification and in association with the mass extinction event at the KPB, ultimately underpinning the evolutionary success of the Leguminosae in the Cenozoic. [Allopolyploidy; Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary; Fabaceae, Leguminosae; paleopolyploidy; phylogenomics; whole genome duplication events].

Hybrid capture of 964 nuclear genes resolves evolutionary relationships in the mimosoid legumes and reveals the polytomous origins of a large pantropical radiation.

PREMISE: Targeted enrichment methods facilitate sequencing of hundreds of nuclear loci to enhance phylogenetic resolution and elucidate why some parts of the "tree of life" are difficult (if not impossible) to resolve. The mimosoid legumes are a prominent pantropical clade of ~3300 species of woody angiosperms for which previous phylogenies have shown extensive lack of resolution, especially among the species-rich and taxonomically challenging ingoids. METHODS: We generated transcriptomes to select low-copy nuclear genes, enrich these via hybrid capture for representative species of most mimosoid genera, and analyze the resulting data using de novo assembly and various phylogenomic tools for species tree inference. We also evaluate gene tree support and conflict for key internodes and use phylogenetic network analysis to investigate phylogenetic signal across the ingoids. RESULTS: Our selection of 964 nuclear genes greatly improves phylogenetic resolution across the mimosoid phylogeny and shows that the ingoid clade can be resolved into several well-supported clades. However, nearly all loci show lack of phylogenetic signal for some of the deeper internodes within the ingoids. CONCLUSIONS: Lack of resolution in the ingoid clade is most likely the result of hyperfast diversification, potentially causing a hard polytomy of six or seven lineages. The gene set for targeted sequencing presented here offers great potential to further enhance the phylogeny of mimosoids and the wider Caesalpinioideae with denser taxon sampling, to provide a framework for taxonomic reclassification, and to study the ingoid radiation.

Large-scale genomic sequence data resolve the deepest divergences in the legume phylogeny and support a near-simultaneous evolutionary origin of all six subfamilies.

Phylogenomics is increasingly used to infer deep-branching relationships while revealing the complexity of evolutionary processes such as incomplete lineage sorting, hybridization/introgression and polyploidization. We investigate the deep-branching relationships among subfamilies of the Leguminosae (or Fabaceae), the third largest angiosperm family. Despite their ecological and economic importance, a robust phylogenetic framework for legumes based on genome-scale sequence data is lacking. We generated alignments of 72 chloroplast genes and 7621 homologous nuclear-encoded proteins, for 157 and 76 taxa, respectively. We analysed these with maximum likelihood, Bayesian inference, and a multispecies coalescent summary method, and evaluated support for alternative topologies across gene trees. We resolve the deepest divergences in the legume phylogeny despite lack of phylogenetic signal across all chloroplast genes and the majority of nuclear genes. Strongly supported conflict in the remainder of nuclear genes is suggestive of incomplete lineage sorting. All six subfamilies originated nearly simultaneously, suggesting that the prevailing view of some subfamilies as 'basal' or 'early-diverging' with respect to others should be abandoned, which has important implications for understanding the evolution of legume diversity and traits. Our study highlights the limits of phylogenetic resolution in relation to rapid successive speciation.

Phylogenomic analyses reveal an exceptionally high number of evolutionary shifts in a florally diverse clade of African legumes.

Detarioideae is well known for its high diversity of floral traits, including flower symmetry, number of organs, and petal size and morphology. This diversity has been characterized and studied at higher taxonomic levels, but limited analyses have been performed among closely related genera with contrasting floral traits due to the lack of fully resolved phylogenetic relationships. Here, we used four representative transcriptomes to develop an exome capture (target enrichment) bait for the entire subfamily and applied it to the Anthonotha clade using a complete data set (61 specimens) representing all extant floral diversity. Our phylogenetic analyses recovered congruent topologies using ML and Bayesian methods. Anthonotha was recovered as monophyletic contrary to the remaining three genera (Englerodendron, Isomacrolobium and Pseudomacrolobium), which form a monophyletic group sister to Anthonotha. We inferred a total of 35 transitions for the seven floral traits (pertaining to flower symmetry, petals, stamens and staminodes) that we analyzed, suggesting that at least 30% of the species in this group display transitions from the ancestral condition reconstructed for the Anthonotha clade. The main transitions were towards a reduction in the number of organs (petals, stamens and staminodes). Despite the high number of transitions, our analyses indicate that the seven characters are evolving independently in these lineages. Petal morphology is the most labile floral trait with a total of seven independent transitions in number and seven independent transitions to modification in petal types. The diverse petal morphology along the dorsoventral axis of symmetry within the flower is not associated with differences at the micromorphology of petal surface, suggesting that in this group all petals within the flower might possess the same petal identity at the molecular level. Our results provide a solid evolutionary framework for further detailed analyses of the molecular basis of petal identity.

Phylogenomics of the Major Tropical Plant Family Annonaceae Using Targeted Enrichment of Nuclear Genes.

Targeted enrichment and sequencing of hundreds of nuclear loci for phylogenetic reconstruction is becoming an important tool for plant systematics and evolution. Annonaceae is a major pantropical plant family with 110 genera and ca. 2,450 species, occurring across all major and minor tropical forests of the world. Baits were designed by sequencing the transcriptomes of five species from two of the largest Annonaceae subfamilies. Orthologous loci were identified. The resulting baiting kit was used to reconstruct phylogenetic relationships at two different levels using concatenated and gene tree approaches: a family wide Annonaceae analysis sampling 65 genera and a species level analysis of tribe Piptostigmateae sampling 29 species with multiple individuals per species. DNA extraction was undertaken mainly on silicagel dried leaves, with two samples from herbarium dried leaves. Our kit targets 469 exons (364,653 bp of sequence data), successfully capturing sequences from across Annonaceae. Silicagel dried and herbarium DNA worked equally well. We present for the first time a nuclear gene-based phylogenetic tree at the generic level based on 317 supercontigs. Results mainly confirm previous chloroplast based studies. However, several new relationships are found and discussed. We show significant differences in branch lengths between the two large subfamilies Annonoideae and Malmeoideae. A new tribe, Annickieae, is erected containing a single African genus Annickia. We also reconstructed a well-resolved species-level phylogenetic tree of the Piptostigmteae tribe. Our baiting kit is useful for reconstructing well-supported phylogenetic relationships within Annonaceae at different taxonomic levels. The nuclear genome is mainly concordant with plastome information with a few exceptions. Moreover, we find that substitution rate heterogeneity between the two subfamilies is also found within the nuclear compartment, and not just plastomes and ribosomal DNA as previously shown. Our results have implications for understanding the biogeography, molecular dating and evolution of Annonaceae.

Mimosoid legume plastome evolution: IR expansion, tandem repeat expansions, and accelerated rate of evolution in clpP.

The Leguminosae has emerged as a model for studying angiosperm plastome evolution because of its striking diversity of structural rearrangements and sequence variation. However, most of what is known about legume plastomes comes from few genera representing a subset of lineages in subfamily Papilionoideae. We investigate plastome evolution in subfamily Mimosoideae based on two newly sequenced plastomes (Inga and Leucaena) and two recently published plastomes (Acacia and Prosopis), and discuss the results in the context of other legume and rosid plastid genomes. Mimosoid plastomes have a typical angiosperm gene content and general organization as well as a generally slow rate of protein coding gene evolution, but they are the largest known among legumes. The increased length results from tandem repeat expansions and an unusual 13 kb IR-SSC boundary shift in Acacia and Inga. Mimosoid plastomes harbor additional interesting features, including loss of clpP intron1 in Inga, accelerated rates of evolution in clpP for Acacia and Inga, and dN/dS ratios consistent with neutral and positive selection for several genes. These new plastomes and results provide important resources for legume comparative genomics, plant breeding, and plastid genetic engineering, while shedding further light on the complexity of plastome evolution in legumes and angiosperms.

Using targeted enrichment of nuclear genes to increase phylogenetic resolution in the neotropical rain forest genus Inga (Leguminosae: Mimosoideae).

Evolutionary radiations are prominent and pervasive across many plant lineages in diverse geographical and ecological settings; in neotropical rainforests there is growing evidence suggesting that a significant fraction of species richness is the result of recent radiations. Understanding the evolutionary trajectories and mechanisms underlying these radiations demands much greater phylogenetic resolution than is currently available for these groups. The neotropical tree genus Inga (Leguminosae) is a good example, with ~300 extant species and a crown age of 2-10 MY, yet over 6 kb of plastid and nuclear DNA sequence data gives only poor phylogenetic resolution among species. Here we explore the use of larger-scale nuclear gene data obtained though targeted enrichment to increase phylogenetic resolution within Inga. Transcriptome data from three Inga species were used to select 264 nuclear loci for targeted enrichment and sequencing. Following quality control to remove probable paralogs from these sequence data, the final dataset comprised 259,313 bases from 194 loci for 24 accessions representing 22 Inga species and an outgroup (Zygia). Bayesian phylogenies reconstructed using either all loci concatenated or a gene-tree/species-tree approach yielded highly resolved phylogenies. We used coalescent approaches to show that the same targeted enrichment data also have significant power to discriminate among alternative within-species population histories within the widespread species I. umbellifera. In either application, targeted enrichment simplifies the informatics challenge of identifying orthologous loci associated with de novo genome sequencing. We conclude that targeted enrichment provides the large volumes of phylogenetically-informative sequence data required to resolve relationships within recent plant species radiations, both at the species level and for within-species phylogeographic studies.

Recently evolved diversity and convergent radiations of rainforest mahoganies (Meliaceae) shed new light on the origins of rainforest hyperdiversity.

Tropical rainforest hyperdiversity is often suggested to have evolved over a long time-span (the 'museum' model), but there is also evidence for recent rainforest radiations. The mahoganies (Meliaceae) are a prominent plant group in lowland tropical rainforests world-wide but also occur in all other tropical ecosystems. We investigated whether rainforest diversity in Meliaceae has accumulated over a long time or has more recently evolved. We inferred the largest time-calibrated phylogeny for the family to date, reconstructed ancestral states for habitat and deciduousness, estimated diversification rates and modeled potential shifts in macro-evolutionary processes using a recently developed Bayesian method. The ancestral Meliaceae is reconstructed as a deciduous species that inhabited seasonal habitats. Rainforest clades have diversified from the Late Oligocene or Early Miocene onwards. Two contemporaneous Amazonian clades have converged on similar ecologies and high speciation rates. Most species-level diversity of Meliaceae in rainforest is recent. Other studies have found steady accumulation of lineages, but the large majority of plant species diversity in rainforests is recent, suggesting (episodic) species turnover. Rainforest hyperdiversity may best be explained by recent radiations from a large stock of higher level taxa.