title: Phylogeography above the species level for perennial species in a composite genus.
abstract: In phylogeography, DNA sequence and fingerprint data at the population level are used to infer evolutionary histories of species. Phylogeography above the species level is concerned with the genealogical aspects of divergent lineages. Here, we present a phylogeographic study to examine the evolutionary history of a western Mediterranean composite, focusing on the perennial species of Helminthotheca (Asteraceae, Cichorieae). We used molecular markers (amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP), internal transcribed spacer and plastid DNA sequences) to infer relationships among populations throughout the distributional range of the group. Interpretation is aided by biogeographic and molecular clock analyses. Four coherent entities are revealed by Bayesian mixture clustering of AFLP data, which correspond to taxa previously recognized at the rank of subspecies. The origin of the group was in western North Africa, from where it expanded across the Strait of Gibraltar to the Iberian Peninsula and across the Strait of Sicily to Sicily. Pleistocene lineage divergence is inferred within western North Africa as well as within the western Iberian region. The existence of the four entities as discrete evolutionary lineages suggests that they should be elevated to the rank of species, yielding H. aculeata, H. comosa, H. maroccana and H. spinosa, whereby the latter two necessitate new combinations.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biología Vegetal y Ecología, Universidad de Sevilla, Apdo. 1095, 41080 Seville, Spain Present address: Institute of Botany, Department of Integrative Biology and Biodiversity Research, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Gregor Mendel Straße 33, 1180 Vienna, Austria karin.tremetsberger@boku.ac.at.
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tremetsberger
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biología Vegetal y Ecología, Universidad de Sevilla, Apdo. 1095, 41080 Seville, Spain.
authors.forename: María Ángeles
authors.initials: MÁ
authors.lastname: Ortiz
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biología Vegetal y Ecología, Universidad de Sevilla, Apdo. 1095, 41080 Seville, Spain.
authors.forename: Anass
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Terrab
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biología Vegetal y Ecología, Universidad de Sevilla, Apdo. 1095, 41080 Seville, Spain.
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Balao
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biología Vegetal y Ecología, Universidad de Sevilla, Apdo. 1095, 41080 Seville, Spain Present address: Departamento de Biología, CASEM, Universidad de Cádiz, Campus Río San Pedro, 11510 Puerto Real, Spain.
authors.forename: Ramón
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Casimiro-Soriguer
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biología Vegetal y Ecología, Universidad de Sevilla, Apdo. 1095, 41080 Seville, Spain.
authors.forename: María
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Talavera
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biología Vegetal y Ecología, Universidad de Sevilla, Apdo. 1095, 41080 Seville, Spain.
authors.forename: Salvador
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Talavera
keywords: Amplified fragment length polymorphism; Helminthotheca; Iberian Peninsula; Strait of Gibraltar; phylogeography; western Mediterranean region; western North Africa