Phylogeny and recircumscription of artocarpeae (Moraceae) with a focus on Artocarpus

Moraceae is a large (∼1,050 species) primarily tropical family with several economically and ecologically important species. While its monophyly has been well supported in recent studies, relationships within the family at the tribal level and below remain unresolved. Delimitation of the tribe Artocarpeae has been particularly difficult. Classifications based on morphology differ from those based on phylogenetic studies, and all treatments include highly heterogeneous assemblages of genera that seem to represent a cross section of the family. We evaluated chloroplast and nuclear DNA sequence data for 60 Moraceae taxa representing all genera that have been included in past treatments of Artocarpeae and also included species from several other Moraceae tribes and closely related families as outgroups. The data were analyzed using maximum parsimony and maximum likelihood methods and indicate that none of the past treatments of Artocarpeae represent a monophyletic lineage. We present the most complete phylogenetic hypothesis for Artocarpeae and the genus Artocarpus to date. Inflorescence evolution and pollination are briefly discussed and the phylogenetic reconstructions are used to inform a revised treatment of Artocarpeae and the Artocarpus subgenera. The following new combinations are proposed: the genus Prainea is reduced to Artocarpus subgenus Prainea , and the series Cauliflori is raised to Artocarpus subgenus Cauliflori .