Evolutionary history of Gymnocarpos (Caryophyllaceae) in the arid regions from North Africa to Central Asia |
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Authors: | Shu‐Wen Jia Ming‐Li Zhang Eckhard V Raab‐Straube Mats Thulin |
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Institution: | 1. Key Laboratory of Biogeography and Bioresource in Arid Land, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, China;2. Graduate University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China;3. Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China;4. Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum Berlin‐Dahlem, Freie Universit?t Berlin, Berlin, Germany;5. Department of Systematic Biology, EBC, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden |
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Abstract: | Gymnocarpos has only about ten species distributed in the arid regions of Asia and Africa, but it exhibits a geographical disjunction between eastern Central Asia and western North Africa and Minor Asia. We sampled eight species of the genus and sequenced two chloroplast regions (rps16 and psbB–psbH), and the nuclear rDNA (ITS) to study the phylogeny and biogeography. The results of the phylogenetic analyses corroborated that Gymnocarpos is monophyletic, in the phylogenetic tree two well supported clades are recognized: clade 1 includes Gymnocarpos sclerocephalus and G. decandrus, mainly the North African group, whereas clade 2 comprises the remaining species, mainly in the Southern Arabian Peninsula. Molecular dating analysis revealed that the divergence age of Gymnocarpos was c. 31.33 Mya near the Eocene and Oligocene transition boundary, the initial diversification within Gymnocarpos dated to c. 6.69 Mya in the late Miocene, and the intraspecific diversification mostly occurred during the Quaternary climate oscillations. Ancestral area reconstruction suggested that the Southern Arabian Peninsula was the ancestral area for Gymnocarpos. Our conclusions revealed that the aridification since mid‐late Miocene significantly affected the diversification of the genus in these areas. |
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Keywords: | ancestral area diversification historical biogeography |
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