Format: ORAL

Marie Claire Veranso-Libalah1, Luo Chen1, Xander van der Burgt2, Pepe Haba3, Peter Quakenbush4, Gudrun Kadereit1,5

1Systematik, Biodiversität & Evolution der Pflanzen, Ludwig-Maximilians Universität München, Germany 2Herbarium, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 3AE, UK 3Guinée Biodiversité, Conakry, Guinea 4 Department of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA. 5Botanischer Garten München-Nymphenburg, Munich, Germany

The strategic amalgamation of public and newly generated target capture data, utilizing the universal Angiosperms353 probe set and group-specific probe sets (e.g., Melastomataceae) and Sanger data have emerged as a potent strategies in phylogenetic studies. Through this synergistic integration, our aim is to unravel the evolutionary mysteries surrounding taxa that have never been sampled or placed in a phylogenetic context, to enrich our understanding of biodiversity and the tree of life. In recent years, efforts have been made to resolve phylogenetic relationships among OW Melastomataceae taxa. However, several enigmatic taxa, including Dionychastrum schliebenii, Dissotis leonensis, Dissotis splendens, Feliciadamia stenocarpa, Medinilla mirabilis and Kendrickia walkeri, persist as unplaced and/or unsampled in current taxonomic revisions and phylogenetic studies. With recent field collections of these taxa and the utilization of public and newly generated target capture data, our goal is to phylogenetically place all the aforementioned taxa. The resulting phylogenetic placement, complemented by morphology and anatomy, provides a clearer systematic picture and enhances our understanding of the evolution of Melastomataceae at large.