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Phylogeny and biogeography of the African genus Virectaria Bremek. (Sabiceeae s.l., Ixoroideae, Rubiaceae)

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Abstract

The phylogenetic relationships of the tropical African genus Virectaria with its associated genera within the tribe Sabiceeae s.l. (Ixoroideae and Rubiaceae) were inferred from the combined analysis of nuclear ITS and chloroplast rpoC1 and trnT-F nucleotide sequence data. Phylogenetic relationships within Virectaria were investigated using combined analyses of ETS (nrDNA), ITS, rpoC1 and trnT-F sequence data. The present analyses further show that Hekistocarpa is sister to the Tamridaea–Virectaria–Sabicea clade, Tamridaea and Virectaria are sister genera, and Sabicea s.l. is sister to the Tamridaea–Virectaria clade. Our results strongly support the monophyly of Virectaria and the sister-group relationships between V. multiflora and V. herbacoursi, V. angustifolia and V. procumbens, and V. major and V. belingana. Our analyses indicate a tropical African origin for Sabiceeae s.l., a long isolated evolution for Tamridaea and a wide range of dispersal of Virectaria species in the Lower-Guinean, Upper-Guinean and Congolian regions, without a clearly defined direction of migration.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the curators of BR, BRLU, NY, UBT, UPS, and WAG for providing the loans and/or for permission to sample material for DNA investigation; Jan Wieringa, for providing silica-gel dried leaf samples; ANGAP (Association Nationale pour la Gestion des Aires Protégées) and MEF (Ministère des Eaux et Forêts, Madagascar) for issuing collecting permits for SGR; Désiré Ravelonarivo (ANGAP Andapa) for field assistance in the Marojejy National Park, Madagascar; Angelika Täuber and Anbar Khodabandeh for help with sequencing; and Ulrich Meve, and Stefan Dötterl for their technical support; an anonymous reviewer for providing constructive critics on an earlier version of the paper. We acknowledge the Swedish Research Council and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for providing fund to BB and Jahangirnagar University, and University of Bayreuth to SAK for this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Systematics, University of Bayreuth, Universitätstr. 30, 95440, Bayreuth, Germany

    Saleh Ahammad Khan & Sigrid Liede-Schumann

  2. Bergius Foundation, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, 10691, Stockholm, Sweden

    Sylvain G. Razafimandimbison & Birgitta Bremer

  3. Department of Botany, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka, 1342, Bangladesh

    Saleh Ahammad Khan

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  1. Saleh Ahammad Khan
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  2. Sylvain G. Razafimandimbison
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  3. Birgitta Bremer
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  4. Sigrid Liede-Schumann
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Correspondence to Saleh Ahammad Khan.

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Khan, S.A., Razafimandimbison, S.G., Bremer, B. et al. Phylogeny and biogeography of the African genus Virectaria Bremek. (Sabiceeae s.l., Ixoroideae, Rubiaceae). Plant Syst Evol 275, 43–58 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-008-0053-8

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