Phylogenomic Insights into Neotropical Relationships

Despite extensive research into the phylogenetic relationships of the genus , Neotropical taxa have been neglected. This is partly because their numbers have recently doubled and now account for almost half of the global richness. Therefore, by sampling one-third of all Neotropical taxa their relationships were studied using morphological, nuclear, and plastome data. Two major clades were identified: Clade I, comprising sect. sect. from the Neotropics, and the Asian sect. ; while Clade II included the Neotropical clades sect. and sect. , along with the remaining non-Neotropical sections. Within Clade I, sect. was geographically divided into a northern subclade grouping Mexican and Central American taxa, and a southern subclade comprising South American and Caribbean taxa. sect. was also dichotomously divided, corresponding to the former sect. subsect. and sect. subsect. . In Clade II, the relationships within sect. and sect. were unclear, suggesting a species complex in all sect. taxa. In total, 25 morphological traits were assessed, and ancestral state reconstructions were carried out. Only the joined clustering of mature follicles was a synapomorphy for the southern subclade of sect. . In conclusion, this highlights the need to re-assess the taxonomic delimitation of certain groups, to update the infrageneric classification of Neotropical clades and to explore morphological traits to support them.