Inferring the biogeography of the Colchicaceae, the non-Neotropical sister clade to the mainly Neotropical Alstroemeriaceae

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The Austral floristic realm comprises 16 families (and c. 60 genera) that are restricted to South America and Australasia. An important member of this realm is the Alstroemeriaceae, with 200 species in four genera, Alstroemeria and Bomarea in South America, and Drymaphila and Luzuriaga in Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand as well as South America, since Luzuriaga also has species in South America. Evolutionary studies on the Alstroemeriaceae have included few species and have suffered from a lack of phylogenetic resolution due to limited signal in the DNA regions sequenced so far. This proposal is seeking support for a phylogeny of the family that will sample c. 100 species for several nuclear and chloroplast DNA regions. We will test the hypothesis that the oldest divergence(s) in Alstroemeriaceae date(s) back to the break-up of East Gondwana and will answer two questions: (i) What is the evolutionary relationship between Alstroemeria and Bomarea, and how was their divergence affected by the uplift phases of the Andes? And (ii) What is the history of the Alstroemeria subclades that appear to be restricted to the ancient Brazilian shield region and the relatively young Chilean and Peruvian/Ecuadorian chains of the Andes? The project is part of a metaanalysis of the Austral floristic realm, and in a future follow-up project the phylogeny will also be used to study the evolution of pollination modes in Alstroemerieae.