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Citation for Study 12339

About Citation title: "Evolution and loss of petal fringes: a case study using a dated phylogeny of the snake gourds (Trichosanthes, Cucurbitaceae)".
About Study name: "Evolution and loss of petal fringes: a case study using a dated phylogeny of the snake gourds (Trichosanthes, Cucurbitaceae)".
About This study is part of submission 12339 (Status: Published).

Citation

De boer H., Schaefer H., Thulin M., & Renner S.S. 2012. Evolution and loss of petal fringes: a case study using a dated phylogeny of the snake gourds (Trichosanthes, Cucurbitaceae). BMC Evolutionary Biology, .

Authors

  • De boer H.
  • Schaefer H. (submitter) Phone 0049-8161715884
  • Thulin M.
  • Renner S.S. Phone 011-49-(0)89-17861250

Abstract

The Cucurbitaceae genus Trichosanthes comprises 90-100 species that occur from India to Japan, and southeast to Australia and Fiji. Most species have large white or pale yellow petals with conspicuously fringed margins, the fringes sometimes several cm long. Pollination is usually by hawkmoths. Previous molecular data for a small number of species suggested that a monophyletic Trichosanthes should include the Asian genera Gymnopetalum (four species, lacking long petal fringes) and Hodgsonia (two species with petals fringed). Here we test these groups? relationships using a sampling of 60% of their species and 4759 nucleotides of nuclear and plastid DNA. To infer the time and direction of the geographic expansion of the Trichosanthes clade we employ molecular clock dating and statistical biogeographic reconstruction, and we also address the gain or loss of petal fringes. Trichosanthes is monophyletic as long as it includes Gymnopetalum, which itself is polyphyletic. The closest relative of Trichosanthes appears to be the sponge gourds, Luffa, while Hodgsonia unexpectedly is more distantly related. Of nine morphology-based sections in Trichosanthes, only three are supported by the molecular results; two new sections appear warranted. Molecular dating and biogeographic analyses suggest an Oligocene origin of Trichosanthes in Eurasia or East Asia, followed by diversification and spread throughout Australasia and at least three dispersals across the Wallace line into the Australian continent. Long-fringed corollas evolved independently in Hodgsonia and Trichosanthes, followed by two losses in the latter coincident with shifts to other pollinators but not with long-distance dispersal events. Together with the Caribbean Linnaeosicyos, the Madagascan Ampelosicyos and the tropical African Telfairia, these cucurbit lineages represent an ideal system for more detailed studies of the evolution and function of petal fringes in plant-pollinator mutualisms.

Keywords

Trichosanthes, Cucurbitaceae

External links

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  • Canonical resource URI: http://purl.org/phylo/treebase/phylows/study/TB2:S12339
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