A Phylogenetic Study of Amphicarpaea with a New Genus Afroamphica (Leguminosae Tribe Phaseoleae)

Abstract

The genus Amphicarpaea was revised by Ohashi and Ohashi (2016) based mainly on pollen morphology in which Shuteria africana was resurrected from Amphicarpaea africana and the taxonomic position of A. ferruginea was settled in Amphicarpaea. In the present study, those results were reexamined in molecular phylogenetic analyses using chloroplast DNA and nuclear DNA (ITS). Our molecular data show that Shuteria africana is sister to the genus Amphicarpaea, and that A. ferruginea is sister to A. edgeworthii and A. bracteata within the genus. For a consistent systematic treatment with the discrepancy between the results of the pollen morphology and the present molecular study, a new monotypic genus Afroamphica is proposed for Shuteria africana.