Format: ORAL

Natalia Ruiz-Vargas1, Julin Aguirre-Santoro2, Roberta Mason-Gamer1

1 Department of Biological Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, USA 2 Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia

Pitcairnia (Pitcairnioideae) and Wittmackia (Bromelioideae) are two genera in Bromeliaceae with high Caribbean endemism. Pitcairnia is the second largest genus in the family, distributed from Mexico to northern Argentina and the only one with presence in Africa. There are approximately 15 species reported in the Caribbean islands. Wittmackia is distributed in Brazil and the Caribbean with two separate radiations into the islands, one to the Grater Antilles that diversified into 17 different species, and another to the Lesser Antilles that resulted in one species with widespread distribution. Using a target Sequence Capture approach with the Bromeliad 1776 baits set we analyze the relationships within the Caribbean group and discuss biogeographic implication. Our analysis indicate that Pitcairnia colonized the Caribbean from northern South America in one single successful event and later diversified and that species diversity has been overestimated likely because of high phenotypic plasticity in the group. The colonization of the Grater Antilles by Wittmackia is also the result of a single event, in this case from Brazil, that resulted in a Puerto Rican and a (mostly) Jamaican clade.