Abstract Detail

Systematics Section/ASPT

Torke, Benjamin M. [1], Chung, Kuo-Fang [2], Cardoso, Domingos [3].

Re-evaluating the evolutionary and taxonomic significance of morphological innovations in the trans-Pacific tropical tree genus Ormosia (Fabaceae).

With approximately 150 species distributed in the Asian and American Tropics, the genus Ormosia (Fabaceae) displays a remarkable array of morphological innovations, particularly in the reproductive structures. The flowers vary greatly in size, color, the degree of exsertion of the stamens and style, and in the form of the stigma. The fruits range from thin papery dehiscent legumes to thick, woody, sometimes indehiscent, pods. The seeds, which are typically very hard and brightly colored, also vary greatly in size and shape and in the length of the hilum. In a few species the testa is fleshy. Most notably, the majority of Neotropical species and a few Asian species have strikingly bi-colored seeds. Our recent molecular phylogenetic work on the genus suggests that virtually all of these morphological innovations have arisen in parallel in distinct clades of the genus. Moreover, the phylogenetic results highlight the inadequacies of the current infrageneric classification based on relatively few morphological characters. We discuss a possible framework for revising the taxonomy and put forward hypotheses involving pollinator and disperser shifts to account for correlated parallelisms in suites of morphological characters.

1 - The New York Botanical Garden, Department Of Biology, 2900 Southern Blvd., Bronx, NY, 10458, USA
2 - National Taiwan University, School of Forestry and Resource Conservation, No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei, 10617, Taiwan
3 - Universidade Federal da Bahia, Departamento de Botânica, Instituto de Biologia, Rua Barão de Geremoabo, s/n, Campus Universitário de Ondina, Salvador, Bahia, 40170115, Brazil

Keywords:
Ormosia
Fabaceae
Leguminosae
taxonomy
systematics
Phylogeny
Evolution.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper:Papers for Sections
Session: 5
Location: Salon 9/The Shaw Conference Centre
Date: Monday, July 27th, 2015
Time: 11:15 AM
Number: 5013
Abstract ID:1140
Candidate for Awards:None