Phylogenomics of African Melastomateae (Melastomataceae): Revisiting generic relationships, placement of three enigmatic taxa and description of two new genera.

Evolutionary relationships within the Melastomateae, a diverse tribe within the Melastomataceae, are not yet completely resolved, and some putatively paleoendemic taxa that might alter relationships are still unsampled. This study employs a phylogenomic approach, utilizing target capture data, to revisit generic relationships and shed light on the placement of three enigmatic taxa ( , , ) within the African Melastomateae. Using 90 accessions (64 newly sequenced), spanning known genera, unplaced taxa and phylogenetically unsampled taxa, and leveraging high‐throughput sequencing and Melastomataceae‐specific baits, we captured a set of 384 putative single‐copy protein‐coding nuclear loci. Overall, our phylogenomic analyses reaffirm the monophyly of the Paleotropical Melastomateae, its two primary lineages (Euheterotis clade, Pseudoheterotis clade), and a sister‐group relationship of the Malagasy and Asian Melastomateae which are nested within the African Melastomateae. Except for and , which are not monophyletic in our analyses, the rest of the Paleotropical genera previously circumscribed are again recovered. For the Guinea endemic we create the new genus and the new combination . We also elevate subg. to the rank of genus, with from Guinea and Sierra Leone as the lone species, for which we create the new combination . Morphologically, seed and wood anatomy of and support their placement in the tribe Melastomateae, with the latter being sister to the rest of the Pseudoheterotis clade. Our study presents a molecular insight into the Uluguru Mountains (Tanzania) endemic species , revealing it as sister to the eastern African endemic clade.