NEW PHYLOGENETIC INSIGHTS INTO HYDROCHARITACEAE

Abstract

Hydrocharitaceae is an acquatic monocots family, it has enormous importance for  the equilibrium among ecosystems and as biological resource. Previous phylogenetic studies,on the family, did not received strong nodes support and clear congruent resolution.  This study revises Hydrocharitaceae based on the most comprehensive dataset possible. The dataset include all the genera accepted and it is composed by molecular characters retrieved by GeneBank resource. Furthermore, only congruent DNA regions were considered and the resulting combined matrix was analysed with three different phylogenetic methods originating congruent topologies. Consequently, a new Hydrocaritaceae phylogeny was advanced in resolving taxa nodes position with high confidence hence new genera combinations needed to be proposed.  As result, a more reliable Hydrocharitaceae  phylogeny would be essential in order to improve the evolutionary model assessment of this poor size family, which can allow a high quality taxa management. The importance of delivering  reproducible research was  also stressed as it enhance value of any analysis (investigation) and makes possible delivering answer to different issues with higher confidence.