Abstract
The position of the plant genus Pitavia within an infrafamilial phylogeny of Rutaceae (rue, or orange family) was investigated with the use of two non-coding regions from cpDNA, the trnL-trnF region and the rps16 intron. The only species of the genus, Pitavia punctata Molina, is restricted to the temperate forests of the Coastal Cordillera of Central-Southern Chile and threatened by loss of habitat. The genus traditionally has been treated as part of tribe Zanthoxyleae (subfamily Rutoideae) where it constitutes the monogeneric tribe Pitaviinae. This tribe and genus are characterized by fruits of 1 to 4 fleshy drupelets, unlike the dehiscent fruits typical of the subfamily. Fifty-five taxa of Rutaceae, representing 53 genera (nearly one-third of those in the family) and all subfamilies, tribes, and almost all subtribes of the family were included. Parsimony and Bayesian inference were used to infer the phylogeny; six taxa of Meliaceae, Sapindaceae, and Simaroubaceae, all members of Sapindales, were also used as out-groups. Results from both analyses were congruent and showed Pitavia as sister to Flindersia and Lunasia, both genera with species scattered through Australia, Philippines, Moluccas, New Guinea and the Malayan region, and phylogenetically far from other Neotropical Rutaceae, such as the Galipeinae (Galipeeae, Rutoideae) and Pteleinae (Toddalieae, former Toddalioideae). Additionally, a new circumscription of the subfamilies of Rutaceae is presented and discussed. Only two subfamilies (both monophyletic) are recognized: Cneoroideae (including Dictyolomatoideae, Spathelioideae, Cneoraceae, and Ptaeroxylaceae) and Rutoideae (including not only traditional Rutoideae but also Aurantioideae, Flindersioideae, and Toddalioideae). As a consequence, Aurantioideae (Citrus and allies) is reduced to tribal rank as Aurantieae.
Highlights
Rutaceae is a large, predominantly tropical and subtropical family, consisting of 150– 162 genera and 1500–2096 species, with three main centers of diversity: Tropical America, southern Africa, and Australia (Groppo 2010, Simpson 2010, Kubitzki et al 2011)
Given its great morphological diversity that include a variety of habits, flowers, and fruits, allied with a broad geographic distribution, Rutaceae has been traditionally divided into subfamilies, tribes, and subtribes, following the classifications of Engler (1874, 1896 and 1931, see Chase et al 1999, and especially Groppo et al 2008, for a detailed discussion of the these groups)
As commonly seen in the literature, a higher resolution was obtained with the Bayesian analysis than with the majority-rule bootstrap consensus trees based on parsimony, as can be noted in the figure: many clades that appeared in the 50% majorityrule Bayesian tree do were not recovered in the boostrap analysis
Summary
Predominantly tropical and subtropical family, consisting of 150– 162 genera and 1500–2096 species, with three main centers of diversity: Tropical America, southern Africa, and Australia (Groppo 2010, Simpson 2010, Kubitzki et al 2011). Given its great morphological diversity that include a variety of habits, flowers, and fruits, allied with a broad geographic distribution, Rutaceae has been traditionally divided into subfamilies, tribes, and subtribes, following the classifications of Engler (1874, 1896 and 1931, see Chase et al 1999, and especially Groppo et al 2008, for a detailed discussion of the these groups). Groppo et al (2008) demonstrated that geographic distribution of the genera could be more relevant than traditionally used characters of the fruit to an understanding of diversification within the family
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