Phylogeny and evolution of ferns (monilophytes) with a focus on the early leptosporangiate divergences.
Abstract
The phylogenetic structure of ferns (= monilophytes) is explored here, with a special
focus on the early divergences among leptosporangiate lineages. Despite considerable
progress in our understanding of fern relationships, a rigorous and comprehensive
analysis of the early leptosporangiate divergences was lacking. Therefore, a data
set was designed here to include critical taxa that were not included in earlier studies.
More than 5000 bp from the plastid (rbcL, atpB, rps4) and the nuclear (18S rDNA) genomes
were sequenced for 62 taxa. Phylogenetic analyses of these data (1) confirm that Osmundaceae
are sister to the rest of the leptosporangiates, (2) resolve a diverse set of ferns
formerly thought to be a subsequent grade as possibly monophyletic (((Dipteridaceae,
Matoniaceae), Gleicheniaceae), Hymenophyllaceae), and (3) place schizaeoid ferns as
sister to a large clade of "core leptosporangiates" that includes heterosporous ferns,
tree ferns, and polypods. Divergence time estimates for ferns are reported from penalized
likelihood analyses of our molecular data, with constraints from a reassessment of
the fossil record.
Type
Journal articleSubject
Science & TechnologyLife Sciences & Biomedicine
Plant Sciences
Bayesian inference
divergence time estimates
ferns
fossil record
molecular systematics
monilophytes
penalized likelihood
vascular plant evolution
SEED PLANT PHYLOGENY
3 GENOMIC COMPARTMENTS
NUCLEOTIDE-SEQUENCES
MOLECULAR EVOLUTION
CHLOROPLAST DNA
LAND PLANTS
TRNL-F
SYSTEMATIC POSITION
EXTANT GYMNOSPERMS
OLDEST MACROFOSSIL
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/21859Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.3732/ajb.91.10.1582Publication Info
Pryer, Kathleen M; Schuettpelz, Eric; Wolf, Paul G; Schneider, Harald; Smith, Alan
R; & Cranfill, Raymond (2004). Phylogeny and evolution of ferns (monilophytes) with a focus on the early leptosporangiate
divergences. American journal of botany, 91(10). pp. 1582-1598. 10.3732/ajb.91.10.1582. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/21859.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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