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Deprea is the genus with the second highest species richness in tribe Physalideae (Solanaceae) and comprises 50 species that are mainly distributed in the Andes of South America. The taxonomy of Deprea has been unstable after controversial hypotheses about its position and circumscription. Additionally, biogeographical inferences are only based on observations of the restricted area of distribution of some species and no ancestral area estimation have been performed. Here, we present a phylogenetic analysis and an ancestral area reconstruction of Deprea in order to establish its circumscription, resolve its position within Physalideae, and reconstruct its biogeographical history. Phylogenetic analyses were conducted using Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian approaches. Forty-three Deprea species and 26 related taxa were sampled for three DNA markers ( psbA-trnH , ITS, and waxy ). A Bayesian binary MCMC model was applied in order to infer ancestral areas. Deprea is resolved as a strongly supported monophyletic group according to its current circumscription and is placed within subtribe Withaninae of Physalideae. The phylogenetic relationships enabled us to solve taxonomic problems including the rejection and acceptance of previous synonyms. The most probable ancestral area for Deprea is the Northern Andes of South America and the Amotape-Huancabamba zone. Our phylogeny provides increased resolution and support for the current position and circumscription of Deprea . Better resolution of interspecific relationships was also obtained, although some affinities remain unclear. The phylogenetic and ancestral area reconstructions provide a framework for addressing taxonomic problems and investigating new evolutionary questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Austral South American Polystichum is a monophyletic group. • Its species diverged from an Austral common ancestor in the late Miocene. • Orogenic and climatic changes in the Pliocene-Pleistocene are congruent with its diversification. • Austral South American and Australasian species constitute a polyploid lineage. • Polystichum diversity in South America results from three to four separate lineages. A group of seven endemic Polystichum species inhabit Patagonia , the southern region of South America. To date, evolutionary relationships of these Austral South American Polystichum remain unknown. The biota of the Southern Andes appears to be more closely related to the temperate Australasian species than to northern South American ones. Differences in morphological characters suggested that Austral South American Polystichum follows that biogeographical pattern, not being closely related to their congeners in the Northern and Central Andes. We sought to reveal the evolutionary relationships, estimate the divergence times and reconstruct both ancestral areas and ancestral ploidy levels of Austral South America Polystichum. Phylogenetic relationships were estimated using maximum likelihood and Bayesian approaches. The seven Austral South American species plus 31 Polystichum species spanning all other major biogeographic regions were sampled for three DNA markers. Divergence times were estimated in BEAST and Bayesian binary Markov chain Monte Carlo reconstruction was applied in order to infer ancestral areas. The evolution of ploidy was reconstructed on the maximum clade credibility tree, using stochastic character mapping. Austral South American Polystichum was recovered as monophyletic. The earliest divergence reconstructed within the Austral South American Clade was that of Polystichum andinum ; subsequently two other lineages diverged comprising the remaining Austral South American species. The Austral South American lineage is not closely allied to North and Central Andes congeners. Long-distance dispersal of an ancestral tetraploid from Australasia during the late Miocene is the most likely explanation for the origin of Patagonian Polystichum. Then, Pliocene and Pleistocene orogenic and climatic changes may have shaped its diversification in Patagonia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A backbone phylogeny that fully resolves all subfamily and deeper nodes of Asteraceae was constructed using 14 chloroplast DNA loci. The recently named genus Famatinanthus was found to be sister to the Mutisioideae–Asteroideae clade that represents more than 99% of Asteraceae and was found to have the two chloroplast inversions present in all Asteraceae except the nine genera of Barnadesioideae. A monotypic subfamily Famatinanthoideae and tribe Famatinantheae are named herein as new. Relationships among the basal lineages of the family were resolved with strong support in the Bayesian analysis as (Barnadesioideae (Famatinanthoideae (Mutisioideae (Stifftioideae (Wunderlichioideae–Asteroideae))))). Ancestral state reconstruction of ten morphological characters at the root node of the Asteraceae showed that the ancestral sunflower would have had a woody habit, alternate leaves, solitary capitulescences, epaleate receptacles, smooth styles, smooth to microechinate pollen surface sculpturing, white to yellow corollas, and insect-mediated pollination. Herbaceous habit, echinate pollen surface, pubescent styles, and cymose capitulescences were reconstructed for backbone nodes of the phylogeny corresponding to clades that evolved shortly after Asteraceae dispersed out of South America. No support was found for discoid capitula, multiseriate involucres or bird pollination as the ancestral character condition for any node. Using this more resolved phylogenetic tree, the recently described Raiguenrayun cura + Mutisiapollis telleriae fossil should be associated to a more derived node than previously suggested when time calibrating phylogenies of Asteraceae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]