Format: ORAL

Natalia Ruiz-Vargas1, Roberta Mason-Gamer1

1 Department of Biological Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, Illinois, United States

Pitcairnia is the second largest genus in the family Bromeliaceae, distributed from Mexico to northern Argentina, and the only one with presence in Africa. There are approximately 15 species reported for the Caribbean islands, most of which are island endemics; one species, Pitcairnia angustifolia, has wider distribution. Among the islands, Ayiti (Hispaniola), shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti, stands out with six proposed species, while most of the islands have one. Using a target Sequence Capture approach with the Bromeliad 1776 baits set we analyze the relationships within the Caribbean group and found 1) that current species delimitation does not match the molecular data, and 2) that species diversity has been overestimated, likely because of high phenotypic plasticity in the group. We analyzed morphological characters in the group to understand differences between taxa and intraspecific variation. Ecological factors that influence morphological variations and promote or inhibit isolation are also analyzed.