ibclogo XVI International Botanical Congess


Abstract Number: 3768
Session = 7.5.5


PHYLOGENY OF THE METZGERIIDAE


A. V. Freire*, B. Crandall-Stotler*, L. A. Lewis# and R. Stotler* (*Southern IL Univ.,Carbondale and #Univ. Connecticut, Storrs, USA)


The Metzgeriidae, or simple thalloid liverworts, comprise a morphologically heterogeneous assemblage of 38 genera. A parsimony analysis of relationships based on 73 morphological characters resolved 5 clades, but failed to resolve unambiguously the positions of several genera. A preliminary analysis of rbcL gene sequence data provides additional support for some of the clades, but is incongruent with the phylogeny inferred from morphology in the resolution of basal taxa. In both analyses the Jungermanniidae are nested in the Metzgeriineae, the most derived branch of the tree, and Pellia and Pallavicinia form a branch that is intermediate in position. The incongruence in defining basal taxa is no doubt due to the antiquity of the group.


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