Young dispersal of xerophil Nitraria lineages in intercontinental disjunctions of the Old World.
Many cases of intercontinental disjunct distributions of seed plants have been investigated, however few have concerned the continents of Eurasia (mainly Central Asia), Africa, and Australia, especially the xerophytic lineages are lacking. Nitraria (Nitrariaceae) is just one of these xerophytic lineages. Previous Nitraria studies have hypothesized either Africa as the ancient center, with dispersals to Australia and Eurasia, or alternatively Central Asia, due to a concentration of endemism and diversity there. Our findings show eastern Central Asia, i.e. the eastern Tethys, to be the correct place of origin. Dispersal westward to Africa occurred during the late Oligocene to Pliocene, whereas dispersal to Australia from western Central Asia was young since Pliocene 2.61 Ma. Two related tetraploids are indicated to have diversified in eastern Central Asia at approximately 5.89 Ma, while the Australian tetraploid N. billardieri, is an independently derived, recent dispersal from western Central Asia.
Key Laboratory of Biogeography and Bioresource in Arid Land, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China.|Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China.
Ming-Li
ML
Zhang
Key Laboratory of Biogeography and Bioresource in Arid Land, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China.
Kamshat
K
Temirbayeva
Shrub Sciences Laboratory, Intermountain Research Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Utah 84601, USA.
Stewart C
SC
Sanderson
Key Laboratory of Biogeography and Bioresource in Arid Land, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China.
Xi
X
Chen
D044822:Biodiversity; D005075:Biological Evolution; D032461:Chromosomes, Plant; D058893:DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic; D010802:Phylogeny; D058974:Phylogeography; D064028:Tracheophyta / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics