New Zealand Journal of Botany abstracts

---

Conservation genetics and phylogenetics of New Caledonian Retrophyllum (Podocarpaceae) species

J. Herbert*
P. M. Hollingsworth^†
M. F. Gardner
R. R. Mill
P. I. Thomas

Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
20a Inverleith Row
Edinburgh, EH3 5LR, United Kingdom

T. Jaffré

IRD (Institute de recherche pour le développement)
BP A5
Nouméa, Cedex 98848, New Caledonia
* also of Sir Harold Mitchell Building, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9TH, United Kingdom.
^†Author for correspondence. Email: P.Hollingsworth@rbge.org.uk

Abstract  Retrophyllum is a genus in the Podocarpaceae consisting of five species with a disjunct distribution in the Southern Hemisphere. Support for the monophyly of the genus, and its sister group relationship to an Afrocarpus-Nageia clade, was obtained from trnL-F sequences. Within Retrophyllum, the Melanesian species (R. minus, R. comptonii, R. vitiense) formed a monophyletic group, sister to the South American species R. rospigliosii. This topology is consistent with Gondwanan fragmentation, although the amount of nucleotide substitutions between taxa is surprisingly small for such an ancient disjunction. We were unable to distinguish between historical long distance dispersal or slow substitution rates as the source of this discrepancy.

Keywords  Retrophyllum; conservation; trnL; RAPDs; molecular clock

B01039 Received 16 August 2001; accepted 19 March 2002
New Zealand Journal of Botany, 2002, Vol. 40: 175–188
0028–825X/02/4002–0175 $7.00 © The Royal Society of New Zealand 2002

PDF file of entire paper: Print-quality (103K)

---

This year's abstracts | Journal home page | All abstracts | Publishing home page