Systematics and ecology of the Australasian genus Empodisma (Restionaceae) and description of a new species from peatlands in northern New Zealand.

ABSTRACT: The genus Empodisma comprises two species that are ecologically important in wetland habitats. Empodisma gracillimum is restricted to south-western Australia, whereas Empodisma minus is found in Tasmania, eastern Australia and New Zealand. We sequenced three cpDNA genes for 15 individuals of Empodisma sampled from throughout the range of the species. The results support an Australian origin for Empodisma sometime during the late Oligocene to early Miocene with more recent dispersal, colonization and diversification in New Zealand. We recovered six genetically distinct maternal lineages: three Empodisma gracillimum haplotypes corresponding to the three accessions in our analysis, a wide-ranging Empodisma minus haplotype found in eastern Australia and Tasmania, an Empodisma minus haplotype f

SUBMITTER: Wagstaff SJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3391716 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature