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Seasonally tropical dry forests (SDTFs) in the American tropics are a highly diverse yet poorly understood and endangered ecosystem scattered from Northern Mexico to Southern Argentina. One floristic element of the STDFs is the genus Magoniella (Polygonaceae), which includes two liana species, M. laurifolia and M. obidensis, which have winged fruits and are distributed from Costa Rica to Southern Brazil. In a field expedition to the SDTFs of the Colombian Caribbean in 2015, morphologically distinctive individuals of Magoniella were found. In this study, we investigated the species boundaries within Magoniella and determined the phylogenetic position of these morphologically distinctive individuals in the tribe Triplaridae. We compiled morphological trait data across 19 specimens of both species and produced newly sequenced nuclear–plastid DNA data for M. obidensis. Morphometric analyses revealed significant differences in fruit length and perianth size among individuals from the Colombian Caribbean compared to M. obidensis and bract length when compared to M. laurifolia. Maximum likelihood analysis of non-conflicting nuclear and plastid datasets placed the Colombian Caribbean individuals as sister to M. obidensis with maximum statistical support. Additionally, pairwise sequence comparisons of the nuclear ribosomal ITS and the lfy2i loci consistently showed 15-point mutations (10 transitions, five transversions) and six 2 bp-long substitutions that differ between M. obidensis and the Colombian Caribbean individuals. Our morphological and molecular evidence thus suggests that the Colombian Caribbean individuals of Magoniella represent a divergent population from M. laurifolia and M. obidensis, which we describe and illustrate as a new species, M. chersina. Additionally, we provide nomenclatural updates for M. laurifolia and M. obidensis. This study highlights the power of combining morphological and molecular evidence in documenting and naming plant diversity.

Fruits play a crucial role in seed dispersal. They open along dehiscence zones. Fruit dehiscence zone formation has been intensively studied in Arabidopsis thaliana. However, little is known about the mechanisms and genes involved in the formation of fruit dehiscence zones in species outside the Brassicaceae. The dehiscence zone of A. thaliana contains a lignified layer, while dehiscence zone tissues of the emerging orchid model Erycina pusilla include a lipid layer. Here we present an analysis of evolution and development of fruit dehiscence zones in orchids. We performed ancestral state reconstructions across the five orchid subfamilies to study the evolution of selected fruit traits and explored dehiscence zone developmental genes using RNA-seq and qPCR. We found that erect dehiscent fruits with non-lignified dehiscence zones and a short ripening period are ancestral characters in orchids. Lignified dehiscence zones in orchid fruits evolved multiple times from non-lignified zones. Furthermore, we carried out gene expression analysis of tissues from different developmental stages of E. pusilla fruits. We found that fruit dehiscence genes from the MADS-box gene family and other important regulators in E. pusilla differed in their expression pattern from their homologs in A. thaliana. This suggests that the current A. thaliana fruit dehiscence model requires adjustment for orchids. Additionally, we discovered that homologs of A. thaliana genes involved in the development of carpel, gynoecium and ovules, and genes involved in lipid biosynthesis were expressed in the fruit valves of E. pusilla, implying that these genes may play a novel role in formation of dehiscence zone tissues in orchids. Future functional analysis of developmental regulators, lipid identification and quantification can shed more light on lipid-layer based dehiscence of orchid fruits.

Abstract Farming of fungi by ants, termites, or beetles has led to ecologically successful societies fueled by industrial‐scale food production. Another type of obligate insect agriculture in Fiji involves the symbiosis between the ant Philidris nagasau and epiphytes in the genus Squamellaria (Rubiaceae) that the ants fertilize, defend, harvest, and depend on for nesting. All farmed Squamellaria form tubers (domatia) with preformed entrance holes and complex cavity networks occupied by P. nagasau. The inner surface of the domatia consists of smooth‐surfaced walls where the ants nest and rear their brood, and warty‐surfaced walls where they fertilize their crop by defecation. Here, we use RNA sequencing to identify gene expression patterns associated with the smooth versus warty wall types. Since wall differentiation occurred in the most recent common ancestor of all farmed species of Squamellaria, our study also identifies genetic pathways co‐opted following the emergence of agriculture. Warty‐surfaced walls show many upregulated genes linked to auxin transport, root development, and nitrogen transport consistent with their root‐like function; their defense‐related genes are also upregulated, probably to protect these permeable areas from pathogen entry. In smooth‐surfaced walls, genes functioning in suberin and wax biosynthesis are upregulated, contributing to the formation of an impermeable ant‐nesting area in the domatium. This study throws light on a number of functional characteristics of plant farming by ants and illustrates the power of genomic studies of symbiosis.

Extremely high levels of plant diversity in the American tropics are derived from multiple interactions between biotic and abiotic factors. Previous studies have focused on macro-evolutionary dynamics of the Tropical Andes, Amazonia, and Brazil’s Cerrado and Atlantic forests during the last decade. Yet, other equally important Neotropical biodiversity hotspots have been severely neglected. This is particularly true for the Chocó region on the north-western coast of South and Central America. This geologically complex region is Earth’s ninth most biodiverse hotspot, hosting approximately 3% of all known plant species. Here, we test Gentry’s [1982a,b] hypothesis of a northern Andean-Central American Pleistocene origin of the Chocoan flora using phylogenetic reconstructions of representative plant lineages in the American tropics. We show that plant diversity in the Chocó is derived mostly from Andean immigrants. Contributions from more distant biogeographical areas also exist but are fewer. We also identify a strong floristic connection between the Chocó and Central America, revealed by multiple migrations into the Chocó during the last 5 Ma. The dated phylogenetic reconstructions suggest a Plio-Pleistocene onset of the extant Chocó flora. Taken together, these results support to a limited extend Gentry’s hypothesis of a Pleistocene origin and of a compound assembly of the Chocoan biodiversity hotspot. Strong Central American–Chocoan floristic affinity may be partly explained by the accretion of a land mass derived from the Caribbean plate to north-western South America. Additional densely sampled phylogenies of Chocoan lineages also well represented across the Neotropics could enlighten the role of land mass movements through time in the assembly of floras in Neotropical biodiversity hotspots.

Abstract The Andean uplift is one of the major orographic events in the New World and has impacted considerably the diversification of numerous Neotropical lineages. Despite its importance for biogeography, the specific role of mountain ranges as a dispersal barrier between South and Central American lowland plant lineages is still poorly understood. The swan orchids (Cycnoches) comprise ca 34 epiphytic species distributed in lowland and pre-montane forests of Central and South America. Here, we study the historical biogeography of Cycnoches to better understand the impact of the Andean uplift on the diversification of Neotropical lowland plant lineages. Using novel molecular sequences (five nuclear and plastid regions) and twelve biogeographic models, we infer that the most recent common ancestor of Cycnoches originated in Amazonia ca 5 Mya. The first colonization of Central America occurred from a direct migration event from Amazonia, and multiple bidirectional trans-Andean migrations between Amazonia and Central America took place subsequently. Notably, these rare biological exchanges occurred well after major mountain building periods. The Andes have limited plant migration, yet it has seldom allowed episodic gene exchange of lowland epiphyte lineages such as orchids with great potential for effortless dispersal because of the very light, anemochorous seeds.

En la Reserva Bosque de Yotoco (76° 20' O, 3° 50' N, 1200 - 1700 m.s.n.m.) relicto de selva subandina de aproximadamente 500 ha, durante 3 años (marzo de 2006 y mayo de 2009) se realizaron búsquedas intensivas aleatorias de especies de la familia Orchidaceae. Hasta junio de 2009 se habían reportado 80 especies pertenecientes a 46 géneros, siendo los de mayor riqueza específica Epidendrum L. con 13 y Maxillaria Ruiz y Pav. con seis. Como exclusivas de algunas zonas fueron identificadas Macroclinium oberonia (Schltr.) Dodson y Porroglossum muscosum (Rchb. f.) Schltr.; como abundantes y ampliamente distribuidas Epidendrum porpax Rchb.f., Campylocentrum micranthum (Lindl.) Rolfe y Oncidium adelaidae Königer; y como poco abundantes Cryptocentrum latifolium Schltr. y Specklinia picta (Lindl.) Pridgeon & M.W. Chase.In the Yotoco Forest Reserve, in the Municipality of Yotoco, Department of Valle del Cauca, Colombia (3°50'N, 76° 20'W, 1200 - 1700 m.a.s.n.), a remnant sub-Andean forest of approximately 500 ha, orchids were collected during three years. Eighty species distributed in 46 genera were found. The most species-rich genera are Epidendrum L. (tirthteen species) and Maxillaria Ruiz & Pav. (six species). Macroclinium oberonia (Schltr.) Dodson and Porroglossum muscosum (Rchb. f.) Schltr. were restricted to certain zones, Epidendrum porpax Rchb. f., Campylocentrum micranthum (Lindl.) Rolfe, and Oncidium adelaidae Königer were abundant and widely distributed, and Cryptocentrum latifolium Schltr. and Specklinia picta (Lindl.) Pridgeon & M.W. Chase. were scarce.

En la Reserva Bosque de Yotoco (76° 20' O, 3° 50' N, 1200 - 1700 m.s.n.m.) relicto de selva subandina de aproximadamente 500 ha, durante 3 años (marzo de 2006 y mayo de 2009) se realizaron búsquedas intensivas aleatorias de especies de la familia Orchidaceae. Hasta junio de 2009 se habían reportado 80 especies pertenecientes a 46 géneros, siendo los de mayor riqueza específica Epidendrum L. con 13 y Maxillaria Ruiz y Pav. con seis. Como exclusivas de algunas zonas fueron identificadas Macroclinium oberonia (Schltr.) Dodson y Porroglossum muscosum (Rchb. f.) Schltr.; como abundantes y ampliamente distribuidas Epidendrum porpax Rchb.f., Campylocentrum micranthum (Lindl.) Rolfe y Oncidium adelaidae Königer; y como poco abundantes Cryptocentrum latifolium Schltr. y Specklinia picta (Lindl.) Pridgeon & M.W. Chase.