Hybridisation in a tropical seagrass genus, Halodule (Cymodoceaceae), inferred from plastid and nuclear DNA phylogenies

Abstract

The tropical seagrass genus, Halodule, is distributed in warm to tropical areas throughout the world. We performed separate molecular phylogenetic analyses of Halodule based on both plastid and nuclear DNA sequences, followed by haplotype analysis, focusing on plants in the western Pacific area. One western tropical Atlantic species, H. wrightii s.l., and two western Pacific species, H. pinifolia and H. uninervis, were recognised and characterised by leaf morphology. Because samples from the western tropical Atlantic and the western Pacific were nested with each other, allopatric differentiation into both areas may have occurred during the early stages of the evolution of the genus. A hybrid of Halodule was detected at two nearby localities in Okinawa, Japan, together with its co-occurring maternal and paternal species, H. uninervis and H. pinifolia, respectively. Haplotype analysis provided evidence that the hybrid resulted from a single hybridisation event, followed by clonal dispersal to its present localities. © 2011 Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust.