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ARS Home » Plains Area » Sidney, Montana » Northern Plains Agricultural Research Laboratory » Pest Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #207495
Title: Systematics position of Myrtama Ovcz. and Kinz. based on mophological and nr DNA ITS sequence evidence

Author
item ZHANG, DAO-YUAN - CHINESEA ACADEMY OF SCIEN
item ZHANG, YUAN - CHINESEA ACADEMY OF SCIEN
item Gaskin, John
item CHEN, ZHIDUAN - CHINESEA ACADEMY OF SCIEN

Submitted to: Chinese Science Bulletin
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/16/2006
Publication Date: 12/1/2006
Citation: Zhang, D., Zhang, Y., Gaskin, J.F., Chen, Z. 2006. Systematics position of Myrtama Ovcz. and Kinz. based on mophological and nr DNA ITS sequence evidence. Chinese Science Bulletin. 51:117-123.

Interpretive Summary: The genus Myrtama is investigated to see if it should be placed in the genus Tamarix or the genus Myricaria, or if it is a hybrid of two species from those genera. The molecular and morphological evidence suggest that Myrtama be kept as a separate genus.

Technical Abstract: Myrtama is a genus named from Myricaria elegans Royle in the 1970’s in terms of its morphological peculiarities. The establishment of this genus and its systematic position have been disputed since its inception. ITS sequences from 10 species of Tamaricaceae are reported, and analyzed by PAUP 4.0b8 and Bayesian Inference to reconstruct the phylogenies. A single ITS tree is generated from maximum parsimony and MrBayes analyses, respectively. The molecular data set shows strong support for Tamarix and Myricaria as monophyletic genera, and Myrtama as a sister group to the genus Myricaria. Based on morphological differences, a single morphological tree is also generated, in which two major lineages existed but Myrtama is a sister group to Tamarix, rather than Myricaria. The evidence from DNA sequences and morphological characters supports that Myicaria elegans should be put into neither Myricaria nor Tamarix, but kept in its own monotypic genus.