title: A Late Cretaceous Piper (Piperaceae) from Colombia and diversification patterns for the genus.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Documented fossil floras in the neotropics are sparse, yet their records provide evidence on the spatial and temporal occurrence of taxa, allowing for testing of biogeographical and diversification scenarios on individual lineages. A new fossil Piper from the Late Cretaceous of Colombia is described here, and its importance for assessing diversification patterns in the genus is addressed.
  
  
  METHODS
  Leaf architecture of 32 fossil leaf compressions from the Guaduas Formation was compared with that of 294 extant angiosperm species. The phylogenetic position of the fossil named Piper margaritae sp. nov. was established based on leaf traits and a molecular scaffold of Piper. The age of the fossil was independently used as a calibration point for divergence time estimations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Natural affinities of P. margaritae to the Schilleria clade of Piper indicate that the genus occurred in tropical America by the Late Cretaceous. Estimates of age divergence and lineage accumulation reveal that most of the extant diversity of the genus accrued during the last ∼30 Myr.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The recent radiation of Piper is coeval with both the Andean uplift and the emergence of Central America, which have been proposed as important drivers of diversity. This pattern could exemplify a recurrent theme among many neotropical plant lineages.
authors: Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Ancón, Panamá
authors: Camila
authors: C
authors: Martínez
authors: Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Ancón, Panamá L. H. Bailey Hortorium, Department of Plant Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14850 USA.
authors: Mónica R
authors: MR
authors: Carvalho
authors: Laboratorio de Botánica y Sistemática, Universidad de los Andes, Apartado Aéreo 4976, Bogotá, Colombia.
authors: Santiago
authors: S
authors: Madriñán
authors: Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Ancón, Panamá
authors: Carlos A
authors: CA
authors: Jaramillo
mesh_terms: D003105:Colombia; D005580:Fossils; D010641:Phenotype; D010802:Phylogeny; D031701:Piper / Q000235:genetics*; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D013045:Species Specificity; D014329:Tropical Climate
keywords: Colombia; Guaduas Formation; Late Cretaceous; Piper; Piperaceae; dated phylogeny; fossil leaves; paleobotany; radiation