Abstract
We investigated the species composition of Saxifraga sect. Saxifraga subsect. Arachnoideae, a recently recognized taxon, using DNA sequence data (ITS, trnL–trnF, rpl32–trnL(uag)). We conclude that the subsection contains 12 species, i.e. S. aphylla, S. arachnoidea, S. berica, S. facchinii, S. hohenwartii, S. muscoides, S. paradoxa, S. petraea, S. prenja, S. presolanensis, S. sedoides and S. tenella. Of these, we provide the first molecular evidence for the membership of S. muscoides and S. prenja in S. subsect. Arachnoideae. We provide an extended morphological characterization of the subsection and an identification key to its species.Citation: Gerschwitz-Eidt M. A. & Kadereit J. W. 2020: Species composition of Saxifraga sect. Saxifraga subsect. Arachnoideae (Saxifragaceae) based on DNA sequence evidence. – Willdenowia 50: 225–233. doi: https://doi.org/10.3372/wi.50.50208Version of record first published online on 26 May 2020 ahead of inclusion in August 2020 issue.
Highlights
The history of the infrageneric classification of Saxi fraga L. (Saxifragaceae), a genus of between 440 to 500 species in its current circumscription (Tkach & al. 2015), has been described in detail by Webb & Gornall (1989)
The use of DNA sequence data for the study of Saxi fraga soon revealed that the genus is monophyletic only after exclusion of Micranthes Haw. (Soltis & al. 1993; Fernández Prieto & al. 2013), and non-monophyly of several infrageneric taxa had been demonstrated in other early DNA studies (e.g. Conti & al. 1999; Vargas 2000)
We considered the possibility of a close relationship to S. subsect
Summary
The history of the infrageneric classification of Saxi fraga L. (Saxifragaceae), a genus of between 440 to 500 species in its current circumscription (Tkach & al. 2015), has been described in detail by Webb & Gornall (1989). In their analysis of Saxifraga using DNA sequence data of 254 species (2015) identified several further instances of non-monophyly of infrageneric taxa recognized by Engler & Irmscher (1916, 1919) or Gornall (1987). Hohenwartii (Vest ex Sternb.) Schwarz was sequenced by Gerschwitz-Eidt & Kadereit: Species composition of Saxifraga subsect. Arachnoideae these authors) and S. tenella Wulfen as members of S. subsect. Arachnoideae in this circumscription contained elements of Engler & Irmscher’s (1916, 1919) S. sect. Nephrophyllum and of the genus Zahlbrucknera Rchb., which surprisingly was used to accommodate S. paradoxa (as Z. paradoxa (Sternb.) Rchb.) even in the last of Engler’s treatments of Saxifraga (Engler 1930).
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