title: Molecular phylogeny and biogeographic diversification of Parthenocissus (Vitaceae) disjunct between Asia and North America.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Parthenocissus is a genus of the grape family Vitaceae and has a disjunct distribution in Asia and North America with members in both tropical and temperate regions. The monophyly of Parthenocissus has not yet been tested, and the species relationships and the evolution of its intercontinental disjunction have not been investigated with extensive sampling and molecular phylogenetic methods. •
  
  
  METHODS
  Plastid (trnL-F, rps16, and atpB-rbcL) and nuclear GAI1 sequences of 56 accessions representing all 12 Parthenocissus species were analyzed with parsimony, likelihood, and Bayesian inference. Divergence times of disjunct lineages were estimated with relaxed Bayesian dating. Evolution of the leaflet number was assessed by tracing this character onto Bayesian trees using the Trace Character Over Trees option in the program Mesquite. •
  
  
  RESULTS
  Parthenocissus is monophyletic and sister to the newly described segregate genus Yua. Two major clades within Parthenocissus are recognizable corresponding to their distribution in Asia and North America. The disjunction between the two continents is estimated to be at 21.64 (95% higher posterior densities 10.23-34.89) million years ago. •
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Parthenocissus is likely to have derived from the Eocene boreotropical element. Its current Asian-North American disjunction is dated to the early Miocene, congruent with fossil and paleoclimatic evidence. The tropical species is nested within the temperate clade and is inferred to have dispersed from the adjacent temperate regions. Parthenocissus and Yua are best treated as distinct genera. Leaflet number in this genus has a complex history and cannot be used as a character for infrageneric classification.
authors: Key Laboratory of Biodiversity and Biogeography, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan 650204, P. R. China.
authors: Ze-Long
authors: ZL
authors: Nie
authors: Hang
authors: H
authors: Sun
authors: Zhi-Duan
authors: ZD
authors: Chen
authors: Ying
authors: Y
authors: Meng
authors: Steven R
authors: SR
authors: Manchester
authors: Jun
authors: J
authors: Wen