A new phylogenetic hypothesis for Cereinae (Cactaceae) points to a monophyletic subtribe
Cactoideae, Cereeae, cpDNA, Neotropics, PhyC, xeric environments.
Cereinae comprises 14 genera distributed in Neotropical dry forest formations such as in Caatingas of eastern Brazil. Historically, the
taxonomy of the group is very controversial, especially regarding generic circumscriptions, and phylogenetic relationships within the group are still poorly understood. To investigate the delimitation of the subtribe and the infra-subtribal relationships, we performed phylogenetic analyses including 50 taxa representing 13 genera using one nuclear (PhyC) and four cpDNA (petL-psbE, trnL-trnT, trnS-trnG, and rpl16) regions. Our results show a monophyletic Cereinae with high support in Bayesian, maximum parsimony, and maximum likelihood analyses based in combined matrices. Although our results expand the knowledge of generic relationships, we
emphasize the need for further molecular phylogenetic studies combined with ecological evidences to clarify relationships in the more inclusive nodes of the subtribe.