Phylogeny of Dorstenia (Moraceae) reveals the polyphyletic nature of its neotropical sections

Marcelo Dias Machado Filho,Andrea Ferreira Da Costa,Vitor Hugo Maia,Vidal De Freitas Mansano,Leandro Cardoso Pederneiras

doi:10.1590/2175-7860202172087

Abstract

Abstract Dorstenia, the second largest genus of Moraceae, comprises nine sections that are mainly found in Africa and America. Two of them are woody macrospermous, and the other seven are herbaceous microspermous. There are three sections in the Neotropics, all of which are herbaceous and taxonomically complex owing to their great morphological similarity. The most recent molecular phylogenetic studies of Dorstenia suggested that the neotropical sections are polyphyletic. These studies also showed that the neotropical species represent a sister group to an African woody macrospermous grade rather than African herbaceous microspermous plants. We have now expanded the number of taxa sampled and included other molecular markers to determine whether the previous phylogeny are to be corroborated or whether new taxonomic interpretations are to be followed. This study inferred the phylogeny of the group based on ITS, ETS, and trnL-F regions from 40 of the 58 neotropical species and added a new African taxon, thus including 17 of the 60 known species. Our results reaffirmed the polyphyletic nature of the neotropical sections. Dorstenia sect. Acauloma emerged within the main clade of D. sect. Kosaria (both African species), a result that confirms the affinity of these taxa already observed in previous morphological studies. We suggest Dorstenia sect. Dorstenia as the only neotropical section.

Highlights

The mulberry family, Moraceae, contains 39 genera and approximately 1,100 species that are globally distributed throughout tropical and temperate regions (Berg 2001; Zerega & Gardner 2019)
The analysis undertaken in this study suggested that Dorstenia forms a monophyletic group with both bootstrap and posterior probability values higher than 90% for the first and 0.9 for the second one
According to studies by Carauta (1978) and Berg & Hijman (1999), Dorstenia differs from other genera of Moraceae because it mainly consists of herbaceous plants, with bisexual inflorescences

Summary

Introduction

The mulberry family, Moraceae, contains 39 genera and approximately 1,100 species that are globally distributed throughout tropical and temperate regions (Berg 2001; Zerega & Gardner 2019). Dorstenia L. is the second largest genus of Moraceae, with approximately 115 species (Berg & Hijman 1999; Vianna-Filho et al 2016). The genus Dorstenia is morphologically characterized by its herbaceous habit, but there are a few succulent and woody species (Fig. 1). Their inflorescences are primarily monoecious, with a flattened, expanded receptacle (the coenanthium) with minute both staminate and pistillate flowers that are often tightly packed together; drupaceous fruits with an explosive dehiscence; and seeds that are either macrospermous or microspermous (Berg 2001; De Granville 1971; Misiewicz & Zerega 2012; Vianna-Filho et al 2016)

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