Format: ORAL

Claudenice H. Dalastra, Peter Fritsch, Morgan Gostel Gustavo Heiden

1 PPG Botany, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, Brazil 2 Botanical Research Institute of Texas, Fort Worth, EUA 3 Embrapa Clima Temperado, Pelotas, Brazil dalastra.ch@gmail.com

Agarista is a little-known and understudied genus of subshrubs to trees in the blueberry family, comprising about 35 species. One species is distributed along the mountains of tropical Africa and the islands of the western Indian ocean, and the other 34 species are endemics from tropical mountains and temperate lowlands of the Americas. Despite previous monographic and cladistics studies providing an excellent framework of Agarista circumscription through a phyletic approach, sampling for phylogenetic assessment has been sparse.Only 6% of the Agarista species are represented in phylogenetic, biogeographic and evolutionary studies based on molecular data. Thus, this research provides a systematic study of Agarista focusing on the American species, especially in the Brazilian diversity center. The study comprises morphological data, taxonomic revision, molecular phylogenetic analysis, evolutionary character reconstruction, and biogeographic analysis. We are testing the monophyly of Agarista and reconstructing a phylogenetic hypothesis for its evolution. The American species are distributed among five main geographic areas previously defined and each of these areas comprises an endemic set of species. On this hand, we are also in search to understand how morphological characters evolved within the group and, based on biogeographic analysis, test hypotheses of past connections among these currently isolated set of species.Herbaria reviews included in person consults to 31 American herbaria, plus the herbaria revised online through their specific websites. Typifications were made for 17 names in Agarista. Four fieldwork expeditions allowed collecting 15 samples of distinct taxonomic entities.We confirm the occurrence of 34 species in the Neotropics, 24 of them Brazil, being 22 endemics to this country.Additionally, three new species were described. Molecular analysis are in progress with the Botanical Research Institute of Texas in view to clarify the evolutive and biogeographical history of the genus based on the Angiosperms-353 kit.