A plastid phylogeny of the cosmopolitan fern family cystopteridaceae (Polypodiopsida)
Abstract
Among the novel results of recent molecular phylogenetic analyses are the unexpectedly
close evolutionary relationships of the genera Acystopteris, Cystopteris, and Gymnocarpium,
and the phylogenetic isolation of these genera from Woodsia. As a consequence, these
three genera have been removed from Woodsiaceae and placed into their own family,
the Cystopteridaceae. Despite the ubiquity of this family in rocky habitats across
the northern hemisphere, and its cosmopolitan distribution (occurring on every continent
except Antarctica), sampling of the Cystopteridaceae in phylogenetic studies to date
has been sparse. Here we assemble a three-locus plastid dataset (matK, rbcL, trnG-R)
that includes most recognized species in the family and multiple accessions of widespread
taxa from across their geographic ranges. All three sampled genera are robustly supported
as monophyletic, Cystopteris is strongly supported as sister to Acystopteris, and
those two genera together are sister to Gymnocarpium. The Gymnocarpium phylogeny is
deeply divided into three major clades, which we label the disjunctum clade, the robertianum
clade, and core Gymnocarpium. The Cystopteris phylogeny, similarly, features four
deeply diverged clades: C. montana, the sudetica clade, the bulbifera clade, and the
fragilis complex. Acystopteris includes only three species, each of which is supported
as monophyletic, with A. taiwaniana sister to the japonica/tenuisecta clade. Our results
yield the first species-level phylogeny of the Cystopteridaceae and the first molecular
phylogenetic evidence for species boundaries. These data provide an essential foundation
for further investigations of complex patterns of geographic diversification, speciation,
and reticulation in this family. © Copyright 2013 by the American Society of Plant
Taxonomists.
Type
Journal articleSubject
Science & TechnologyLife Sciences & Biomedicine
Plant Sciences
Evolutionary Biology
Cosmopolitan species
Cystopteris
fern phylogeny
Gymnocarpium
intralinkage incongruence
species complex
RBCL
DRYOPTERIDACEAE
CLASSIFICATION
EVOLUTION
RADIATION
INFERENCE
ORIGIN
GENERA
TIME
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/21785Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1600/036364413X666787Publication Info
Rothfels, CJ; Windham, MD; & Pryer, KM (2013). A plastid phylogeny of the cosmopolitan fern family cystopteridaceae (Polypodiopsida).
Systematic Botany, 38(2). pp. 295-306. 10.1600/036364413X666787. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/21785.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Kathleen M. Pryer
Professor of Biology

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