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Evolution of Cyrtandra (Gesneriaceae) in the Pacific Ocean: the origin of a supertramp clade¹

²Botanical Garden and Center for Plant Research, University of British Columbia, 6804 SW Marine Drive, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada; ³Department of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, University of Vienna, Rennweg 14, A-1030 Wien, Austria; ⁴Department of Botany, MRC 166, P.O. Box 37102, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 20013-7102 USA; ⁵Department of Biology, Boise State University, 1910 University Drive, Boise, Idaho 83725 USA

ABSTRACT

Cyrtandra comprises at least 600 species distributed throughout Malesia, where it is known for many local endemics and in Polynesia and Micronesia, where it is present on most island groups, and is among the most successfully dispersing genera of the Pacific. To ascertain the origin of the oceanic Pacific island species of Cyrtandra, we sequenced the internal transcribed spacers of nuclear ribosomal DNA of samples from throughout its geographical range. Because all oceanic Pacific island species form a well-supported clade, these species apparently result from a single initial colonization into the Pacific, possibly by a species from the eastern rim of SE Asia via a NW-to-SE stepping stone migration. Hawaiian species form a monophyletic group, probably as a result of a single colonization. The Pacific island clade of Cyrtandra dispersed across huge distances, in contrast to the apparent localization of the SE Asian clades. Although highly vagile, the Pacific clade is restricted to oceanic islands. Individual species are often endemic to a single island, characteristic of the "supertramp" life form sensu Diamond (1974, Science 184: 803–806). The evolution of fleshy fruit within Cyrtandra provided an adaptation for colonization throughout the oceanic Pacific via bird dispersal from a single common ancestor.

Key Words: biogeography • Gesneriaceae • Hawaiian Islands • internal transcribed spacer • long-distance dispersal • molecular phylogeny • nuclear ribosomal DNA • oceanic islands

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