Resolving the evolutionary history of Ctenium and Kampochloa using phylogenomics, and a new circumscription of Cteniinae (Cynodonteae, Poaceae).

has about 20 species distributed in Africa, Arabia, and the Neotropics, with no species occurring on more than one continent. Its relationship with the morphologically similar is still unclear and has not been investigated. In this study, we performed phylogenomic analyses using 71 protein‐coding genes of 24 newly sequenced plastomes, of 13 species of and 1 species of to understand their biogeography and the phylogenetic and evolutionary relationships between these two genera and within . Our results support two major clades of : the Neotropics and Old‐World clades. is shown to be a close relative of the genus , and their morphological similarities support this. Divergence time estimation analyses show that and diverged around 7.99 Ma, and might have originated in the late Miocene during the rapid expansion of C grasslands. With this evidence from morphology and phylogenomic data, we propose the inclusion of the previously unplaced into the subtribe Cteniinae.

Project(s)

Priority 4: Accelerated Taxonomy

Funder

Funder name	Awards
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, China	ANSO Scholarship for Young Talents, Ph.D. Fellowship Program
Bentham-Moxon Trust, United Kingdom	BMT18-1021
Science and Technology Program of Hubei Province, China	2022EHB031
National Natural Science Foundation of China, China	32270228 - 31970211
CAS-SAFEA International Partnership Program for Creative Research Teams	151853KYSB20190027
Sino-Africa Joint Research Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China	SAJC202101