Abstract Detail

Bryological and Lichenological Section/ABLS

Liu, Yang [2], Budke, Jessica M. [1], Goffinet, Bernard [2].

Phylogenetic relationships of Physcomitrella and other Funariaceae (Bryophyta) based on inferences from 10 genes.

The Funariaceae are a moss family whose diversification is characterized primarily by transformations of the sporophyte. Architecture of the capsule, in particular the symmetry of the sporangium and the structure of the peristomes provided the foundation for generic and infrageneric concepts. Phylogenetic inferences based on ten genes drawn from all genomic compartments confirm a deep split between Pyramiduloideae and Funarioideae and suggest the rapid divergence of three main lineages within the latter, with one clade accommodating the double peristomate species (i.e., the genus Funaria s. str.), one clade comprising Funariella and some species of Entosthodon, and the third lineage including the remaining species of Entosthodon and other genera. The speciose genera Entosthodon and Physcomitrium, and their respective subgenera, as well as Physcomitrella with only three species are resolved as polyphyletic taxa, although monophyly may not be rejected with confidence. Indeed mutations defining individual lineages seem few and relationships among species or species pairs are ambiguous. Such pattern is symptomatic of a rapid radiation, which would, based on preliminary estimates of divergence times, have occurred approximately 20 million years ago.

Broader Impacts:

1 - University of Connecticut, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, 75 NorthEagleville road, Storrs, CT, 06269, USA
2 - University of Connecticut, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, 75 Northeagleville road, Storrs, CT, 06269-3043, USA

Keywords:
Physcomitrella
Funariaceae
reduction
rapid radiation
Bryophyte.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper:Papers for Sections
Session: 19
Location: 554A/Convention Center
Date: Monday, August 2nd, 2010
Time: 2:30 PM
Number: 19003
Abstract ID:184