Historical Isolation versus Recent Long-Distance Connections between Europe and Africa in Bifid Toadflaxes (Linaria sect. Versicolores)
Background Due to its complex, dynamic and well-known paleogeography, the Mediterranean region provides an ideal framework to study the colonization history of plant lineages. The genus Linaria has its diversity centre in the Mediterranean region, both in Europe and Africa. The last land connection between both continental plates occurred during the Messinian Salinity Crisis, in the late Miocene (5.96 to 5.33 Ma). Methodology/Principal Findings We analyzed the colonization history of Linaria sect. Versicolores (bifid toadflaxes), which includes c. 22 species distributed across the Mediterranean, including Europe and Africa. Two cpDNA regions (rpl32-trnLUAG and trnK-matK) were sequenced from 66 samples of Linaria. We conducted phylogenetic, dating, biogeographic and phylogeographic analyses to reconstruct colonization patterns in space and time. Four major clades were found: two of them exclusively contain Iberian samples, while the other two include northern African samples together with some European sampl
14 Jul 2011 ... E-mail: mfmazuecos@rjb.csic.es. Affiliation Real Jardín Botánico, CSIC, Madrid, Spain. Pablo Vargas. Affiliation Real Jardín Botánico, CSIC, ...