| Abstrakt: |
A survey of morphological characters is carried out forStapeliopsis. The information obtained from this is combined with molecular data from the plastidtrnL-F DNA region and ITS1 of the nuclear encoded 18S−26S rRNA cistron, to obtain a hypothesis of the evolutionary relationships among the species. It is shown thatStapeliopsisis monophyletic in a combined molecular and morphological analysis.Stapeliopsisis sister to a clade containingHuernia,OrbeaandTromotriche. The species ofStapeliopsisgroup into two clades. One containsS. khamiesbergensis,S. neronisandS. urniflora, and this is highly supported. The remaining species fall into an unsupported clade in whichS. exasperatais sister to the others. The generaHermanschwartziaPlowes andNeopectinariaPlowes are rejected. It is shown that a synapomorphy forStapeliopsisis the laterally flattened inner corona-lobes, which touch the anthers only at their bases. Eight species ofStapeliopsisare recognized, with no subgeneric divisions. © 2005 The Linnean Society of London,Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2005,148, 125–155. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
