MORTON, CYNTHIA M.1* and MATTHEW GRANT2. 1Department of Biological Sciences, Auburn University, 101 Life Sciences, Auburn, AL; 2Department of Botany, University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading, UK. - Phylogenetic relationships of Aurantioideae (Rutaceae): A cladistic analysis using the Nuclear Internal Transcribed Spacer region.
The subfamily Aurantioideae is one of seven subfamilies of the
Rutaceae (Engler 1931). It is comprised of 33 genera divided into two
tribes, the Clauseneae, containing five genera and the Citreae,
containing 28 genera. Each of these two tribes are divided into three
subtribes (Swingle 1943). Of the 33 genera belonging to Aurantioideae,
29 are native to the Monsoon region extending from west Pakistan to
the western Polynesian Islands. Five genera are native to tropical
Africa and only one genus, Clausena, is native to both the Monsoon
region and tropical Africa. We analyzed cladistically ITS DNA
(nuclear) sequences for 19 genera representing both tribes and most
subtribes of the subfamily. The resulting tree support that the
Aurantioideae are monophyletic, but indicate that the tribes and
subtribes need re-circumscription. These results are in general
agreement with Greger et al. unpublished data from the plastid
atp/rbcL spacer region.
Key words: Aurantioideae, ITS, Rutaceae