Abstract

The current tribal classification of Myrtaceae was based on analysis of the plastid <i>mat</i>K coding region within the <i>trn</i>K intron. The phylogenetic position of the genera <i>Cloezia</i> and <i>Xanthomyrtus</i> was poorly supported, and the original sequence for <i>Kania</i>, the type genus of the tribe Kanieae, was rather poor. To clarify relationships, we sequenced plastid <i>psb</i>A–<i>trn</i>H and an extended portion of the <i>trn</i>K intron, including the spacer regions flanking <i>mat</i>K, and nuclear ribosomal ITS and ETS regions for representative species across the tribes, including denser sampling of the three genera of interest. Analyses of these extended datasets show a strong relationship between <i>Kania</i> and the tribe Metrosidereae but not with other genera presently assigned to the Kanieae. The relationship between <i>Kania</i> and the tribe Metrosidereae is strongly correlated with morphological features recently documented in <i>Metrosideros</i> fossils. Consequently, a new tribe, Tristaniopsideae PeterG.Wilson, is described to accommodate most genera presently assigned to Kanieae. Furthermore, the morphological divergence and genetic distance shown by <i>Cloezia</i> and <i>Xanthomyrtus</i> are here considered as justifying their recognition as the tribes Cloezieae Peter G.Wilson and Xanthomyrteae Peter G.Wilson. Recognition of these tribes brings to four the number of tribes absent from present-day mainland Australia. Prior to this study, Metrosidereae was the only tribe in subfamily Myrtoideae that was absent from mainland Australia.

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