REVISION OF MALESIAN ENDOSPERMUM (EUPHORBIACEAE) WITH NOTES ON PHYLOGENY AND HISTORICAL BIOGEOGRAPHY

Abstract

The genus Endospermum (Euphorbiaceae) in the Malay Archipelago (Malesia) comprises eight rather than the 10 species recognised in the latest revision by Schaeffer in 1971. Endospermum banghamii and E. ronaldii are synonymised with E. quadriloculare. The diagnostic characters for the genus are briefly discussed with special emphasis given to the myrmecophytic characters. The phylogenetic analysis, based on morphological characters (11 vegetative and 12 reproductive), resulted in a single, most parsimonious cladogram with bootstrap support only for the genus. The historical biogeographic analysis, used to evaluate the cladogram, showed that two species are placed in an unexpected position in the phylogeny, which means that the morphology-based cladogram may be reliable to a large extent.