AUTHOR=Deng Tao , Chen Yongsheng , Wang Hengchang , Zhang Xiaoshuang , Volis Sergei , Yusupov Ziyoviddin , Qian Hong , Sun Hang 

TITLE=Molecular Phylogeny and Biogeography of Adenocaulon Highlight the Biogeographic Links between New World and Old World

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution

VOLUME=5

YEAR=2018

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/ecology-and-evolution/articles/10.3389/fevo.2017.00162

DOI=10.3389/fevo.2017.00162

ISSN=2296-701X

ABSTRACT=<p><italic>Adenocaulon</italic> (Asteraceae) is a small genus with only five species but has a broad amphi-Pacific distribution pattern with three species distributed disjunctly in South America, Central America, and North America and two endemic species spanning from eastern Asia to the Himalayas. To trace the biogeographic pattern of the genus, we reconstructed its phylogenetic relationships and diversification history based on one nuclear and eight plastid gene regions. Our results showed that <italic>Adenocaulon</italic> is monophyletic and may have originated in Central America during the Miocene, dispersed into North America and finally reached the Himalayas via the Bering Land Bridge. The hypothesized trajectory implies that long-distance dispersal may have played an important role in the formation of the distribution of this group of species. This hypothesis seems to have gained support from the special morphological structure of fruits of the genus.</p>