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Evolution and biogeography of Memecylon.

Prabha Amarasinghe1,2,3, Sneha Joshi4, Navendu Page5

  • 1Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, 32611, USA.

American Journal of Botany
|March 21, 2021
PubMed
Summary

The woody plant genus Memecylon originated in Africa and spread east through long-distance dispersal, driven by geography and climate. Its diverse morphological traits evolved over time, contributing to its wide distribution.

Keywords:
MemecylonMelastomataceaebiogeographycharacter evolutiondivergence timesphylogenomics

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Area of Science:

  • Botany and Plant Evolution
  • Phylogenetics and Biogeography
  • Molecular Evolution

Background:

  • Memecylon (Melastomataceae) is a widespread woody plant genus in Old World tropics with high endemism.
  • Previous studies focused on ribosomal DNA, leaving divergence times, biogeography, and character evolution unexamined.
  • A comprehensive phylogenomic analysis is needed for a broad evolutionary perspective.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To reconstruct the evolutionary history of Memecylon using phylogenomics.
  • To determine the divergence times and biogeographic patterns of Memecylon.
  • To investigate the evolution of morphological characters within the clade.

Main Methods:

  • Phylogenomic analysis of 100 supercontigs from 67 Memecylon taxa using target enrichment.
  • Coalescent and concatenated phylogenetic analyses were performed.
  • Fossil and secondary calibration were used to establish a timeline for Memecylon evolution.

Main Results:

  • Phylogenomic analyses strongly supported the recovered relationships.
  • Memecylon originated in Africa during the Eocene and primarily dispersed eastward via long-distance dispersal (LDD).
  • Morphological data revealed significant homoplasy but identified evolutionarily informative vegetative and reproductive characters.

Conclusions:

  • The current distribution of Memecylon is attributed to multiple ancestral LDD events.
  • Geographic and paleoclimatic factors significantly shaped the distribution of Memecylon in the Old World tropics.
  • Memecylon exhibits derived morphological features contributing to its diversity.