title: Re-establishment of species from synonymies based on DNA barcoding and phylogenetic analysis using Diplopterygium simulans (Gleicheniaceae) as an example.
abstract: Because synonymy treatment traditionally relies on morphological judgments, it usually causes many problems in species delimitation and in the biodiversity catalogue. For example, Diplopterygium simulans, which belongs to the Gleicheniaceae family, has been considered to be synonymous with D. glaucum or D. giganteum based mainly on the morphology of its pinna rachis and blade. In the absence of molecular evidence, these revisions remain doubtful. DNA barcoding, which is considered to be a powerful method for species-level identification, was employed to assess the genetic distance among 9 members of the Diplopterygium genus. The results indicate that D. simulans is an independent species rather than a synonymy of D. glaucum or D. giganteum. Moreover, phylogenetic analysis uncovered the sisterhood of D. simulans and D. cantonense, which is supported by their geographical distributions and morphological traits. Incorrect synonymy treatment is prevalent in the characterization of biological diversity, and our study proposes a convenient and effective method for validating synonym treatments and discovering cryptic species.
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Chenshan Plant Science Research Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China.|College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Jiang-Ping
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Shu
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Chenshan Plant Science Research Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shang
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Chenshan Plant Science Research Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Dongmei
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Chenshan Plant Science Research Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Hong-Jin
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Chenshan Plant Science Research Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Xi-Le
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Shenzhen Fairylake Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China.
authors.forename: Hong-Mei
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Chenshan Plant Science Research Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China.|College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Yu-Feng
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Chenshan Plant Science Research Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China.|College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Fa-Guo
authors.initials: FG
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Chenshan Plant Science Research Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Chenshan Plant Science Research Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Bali Botanic Garden, Indonesian Institute of Science, Bali, Indonesia.
authors.forename: Bayu
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Adjie
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Chenshan Plant Science Research Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Yue-Hong
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Yan
mesh_terms: D058893:DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic; D018744:DNA, Plant / Q000235:genetics*; D029624:Ferns / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny
chemical_list: D018744:DNA, Plant