Date Approved
8-6-2024
Graduate Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Biology (M.S.)
Degree Program
Biology
First Advisor
TIMOTHY EVANS
Second Advisor
JENNIFER WINTHER
Third Advisor
AMY RUSSEL
Academic Year
2023/2024
Abstract
The genus Aneilema, with approximately 65 species in seven sections, is one of the largest genera in the Commelinaceae. It is mostly distributed across Australia, Madagascar, and Africa, but one species occurs in South America. Early molecular phylogenetic analyses based on a few chloroplast genes and a small number of species have supported the monophyly of the genus with the inclusion of Rhopalephora, which was nested within Aneilema. This study used the Angiosperms353 gene set to investigate the evolutionary and taxonomic relationships within the genus and its close relatives. Through molecular phylogenetic analyses of 35 Aneilema species representing all seven sections, as well as one species of Rhopalephora, this study aimed to produce a resolved phylogeny of Aneilema. Analyses based on 352 nuclear genes, as well as 80 chloroplast genes skimmed from the data, produced fully resolved phylogenies of Aneilema that were largely congruent with one another. Both analyses placed Rhopalephora within Aneilema sect. Amelina. The morphologically and geographically enigmatic South American A. brasiliense is sister to the rest of the genus. Of the remaining species, the Australo-oceanic species (Aneilema acuminatum, Aneilema neocaledonicum, and Aneilema papuanum) formed a single clade, with the nuclear data placing them sister to the remaining Aneilema species. The multispecies coalescent tree revealed that five sections of Aneilema (Aneilema sections Aneilema, Brevibarbata, Lamprodithyros, Pedunculosa, and Rendlei) are monophyletic, results that are supported by basic chromosome numbers for each section. The Morphologically and cytologically complex Aneilema section Amelina is not monophyletic due in part to the inclusion of Rhophalephora and the exclusion of Aneilema johnstonii in the clade. Aneilema section Somaliensia was represented in our study by a single species, Aneilema somaliense.
ScholarWorks Citation
Loinyio, Allan Sampao, "USING PHYLOGENOMICS AND HERBARIUM SPECIMENS TO EVALUATE RELATIONSHIPS IN THE PLANT GENUS ANEILEMA, FAMILY COMMELINACEAE." (2024). Masters Theses. 1169.
https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/theses/1169
