Evolution of anatomical characters in Acianthera section Pleurobotryae (Orchidaceae: Pleurothallidinae)

Acianthera section Pleurobotryae is one of ten sections of the genus Acianthera and include four species endemic to the Atlantic Forest. The objective of this study was to describe comparatively the anatomy of vegetative organs and floral micromorphology of all species of Acianthera section Pleurobotryae in order to identify diagnostic characters between them and synapomorphies for the section in relation of other sections of the genus. We analyzed roots, ramicauls, leaves and flowers of 15 species, covering eight of the nine sections of Acianthera, using light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Acianthera section Pleurobotryae is a monophyletic group and the cladistic analyses of anatomical and flower micromorphology data, combined with molecular data, support internal relationship hypotheses among the representatives of this section. The synapomorphies identified for A. sect. Pleurobotryae are based on leaf anatomy: unifacial leaves, round or elliptical in cross-section, round leaves with vascular bundles organized in concentric circles, and mesophyll with 28 to 30 cell layers. Within the section, the clade (A. crepiniana + A. mantiquyrana) presented more differences in vegetative organ morphology and higher support values in combined analyses when compared to the second clade, (A. atropurpurea + A. hatschbachii). For each of these clades an exclusive set of homoplasies of vegetative and floral organs were also identified. The results support the argument that vegetative organs are more evolutionarily stable in comparison to reproductive organs and thus helpful for inference of internal phylogenetic relationships in Acianthera, while flowers are highly variable, perhaps due to the diversity of pollinator attraction mechanisms. The analyses indicate that the elliptical leaves observed in A. crepiniana have originated from round leaves observed in the other species of this section, suggesting an adaptation to increase the area of exposure of the leaf and better the efficiency of capture of sunlight in shaded environments such as the Atlantic Forest. The presence of papillose regions in both vegetative and floral organs indicated that micromorphological characters are also useful for the delimitation of species and sections within the genus.