Systematics and Plastome Evolution in Schizaeaceae.

While the family Schizaeaceae (Schizaeales) represents only about 0.4% of the extant fern species diversity, it differs from other ferns greatly in gross morphologies, niche preferences, and life histories. One of the most notable features in this family is its mycoheterotrophic life style in the gametophytic stage, which appears to be associated with extensive losses of plastid genes. However, the limited number of sequenced plastomes, and the lack of a well-resolved phylogenetic framework of Schizaeaceae, makes it difficult to gain any further insight. Here, with a comprehensive sampling of ~77% of the species diversity of this family, we first inferred a plastid phylogeny of Schizaeaceae using three DNA regions. To resolve the deep relationships within this family, we then reconstructed a plastome-based phylogeny focusing on a selection of representatives that covered all the major clades. From this phylogenomic backbone, we traced the evolutionary histories of plastid genes and examined whether gene losses were associated with the evolution of gametophytic mycoheterotrophy. Our results reveal that extant Schizaeaceae is comprised of four major clades-Microschizaea, Actinostachys, Schizaea, and Schizaea pusilla. The loss of all plastid NADH-like dehydrogenase (ndh) genes was confirmed to have occurred in the ancestor of extant Schizaeaceae, which coincides with the evolution of mycoheterotrophy in this family. For chlorophyll biosynthesis genes (chl), the losses were interpreted as convergent in Schizaeaceae, and found not only in Actinostachys, a clade producing achlorophyllous gametophytes, but also in S. pusilla with chlorophyllous gametophytes. In addition, we discovered a previously undescribed but phylogenetically distinct species hidden in the Schizaea dichotoma complex and provided a taxonomic treatment and morphological diagnostics for this new species-Schizaea medusa. Finally, our phylogenetic results suggest that the current PPG I circumscription of Schizaea is non-monophyletic, and we therefore proposed a three-genus classification moving a subset of Schizaea species sensu PPG I to a third genus-Microschizaea

A new Dominican amber fossil of the derived fern genus Pleopeltis confirms generic stasis in the epiphytic fern diversity of the West Indies

One of the grand objectives in the integration of fossils and phylogenetics is to obtain support for macroecological and macroevolutionary hypotheses. Here, we provide new evidence from Dominican amber fossils, which supports a likely stasis in the generic composition of epiphytic plant communities in the West Indies for at least 16 million years. The proposed hypothesis is based on the discovery of the first fossil of the Neotropical fern genus Pleopeltis. The relationships of this specimen to extant genera are studied using a dated phylogenetic framework to reconstruct the evolution of the characters preserved in the fossil, as well as by exploring the phylomorphospace of Pleopeltis. The fossil corroborates divergence time estimates obtained independently and also suggests the conservation of the generic composition of epiphytic communities. We discovered evidence for conserved morphotypes in the genus Pleopeltis occurring from the mid-Miocene to the present. The innovative use of phylomorphospace reconstruction provided crucial information about the affinities of the fossil. Rather than relying on reconstructing the evolution of single characters, this analysis integrates the evolution of all informative characters observed to evaluate relationships of the fossilized morphotype to extant morphotypes