Historical biogeography of the fern genus Polystichum (Dryopteridaceae) in Austral South America

MORERO, RITA E.; DEANNA, ROCÍO; BARBOZA, GLORIA E.; BARRINGTON, DAVID S.

MOLECULAR PHYLOGENETICS AND EVOLUTION

ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE

Año: 2019 vol. 137 p. 168 - 168

1055-7903

group of seven endemic Polystichum species inhabit Patagonia, the southern region of South America. To date, evolutionary relationships of these Austral South American Polystichum remain unknown. The biota of the Southern Andes appears to be more closely related to the temperate Australasian species than to northern South American ones. Differences morphological characters suggested that Austral South American Polystichum follow that biogeographical pattern, not being closely related to their congeners in the Northern and Central Andes. We sought to reveal the evolutionary relationships, estimate the divergence times and reconstruct both ancestral areas and ancestral ploidy levels of Austral South America Polystichum. Phylogenetic relationships were estimated using maximum likelihood and Bayesian approaches. The seven Austral South American species plus 31 Polystichum species spanning all other major biogeographic regions were sampled for three DNA markers. Divergence times were esti