O'Donnell, Ryan P

Wilson, Trevor C

Andrew, Rose L

Telford, Ian R H

Taseski, Guy M

Zimmer, Heidi

Bruhl, Jeremy J

2021

<p><i>Prostanthera gilesii</i> Althofer ex. B.J.Conn & T.C.Wilson is a critically endangered species from the Central Tablelands of New South Wales. A conservation management strategy is currently underway for this species, whose phylogenetic affinities are not known. Morphologically, <i>P. gilesii</i> resembles <i>P. phylicifolia</i> F.Muell. and a population of uncertain identity from Evans Crown Nature Reserve in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales known as <i>P.</i> sp. Evans Crown (G.M.Taseski NSW1055966). The taxonomy of <i>P. phylicifolia</i>, however, is unclear. <i>Prostanthera phylicifolia</i> was described from populations in the Victorian Alps and Monaro; however, populations spanning from Victoria to southern Queensland have been variously identified as either <i>P. phylicifolia</i> or <i>P. scutellarioides</i> (R.Br.) Briq. despite substantial geographic disjunctions and morphological dissimilarity. To examine the relationship between populations identified as <i>P. phylicifolia, P. gilesii</i> and <i>P.</i> sp. Evans Crown, nuclear (external transcribed spacer, ETS) and chloroplast (<i>trn</i>H-<i>psb</i>A intergenic spacer) regions were sequenced and combined with an existing <i>Prostanthera</i> dataset and analysed with maximum-likelihood and Bayesian-inference methods. <i>Prostanthera gilesii</i> and <i>P.</i> sp. Evans Crown were recovered as sister taxa within a clade consisting of populations morphologically similar to the type of <i>P. phylicifolia</i> from the Victorian Alps and Snowy Mountains, Monaro and Southern Tablelands of New South Wales. Populations from northern New South Wales and southern Queensland identified as <i>P. phylicifolia</i> or <i>P. scutellarioides</i> were recovered as an assemblage of unrelated clades. The molecular phylogeny supports <i>P. gilesii</i> and <i>P. phylicifolia</i> as closely related as hypothesised based on morphology and supports <i>P.</i> sp. Evans Crown as a population which requires additional study to assess its taxonomic status.</p>

Telopea, v.24, p. 359-376

2200-4025

0312-9764

https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/39767

National Herbarium of New South Wales, Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney

Molecular phylogenetic analysis of the Prostanthera phylicifolia (Lamiaceae) assemblage resolves relationships of the 'Critically Endangered' P. gilesii and other putative new species

Journal Article

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