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Abstract
Chromosome numbers and meiotic behaviour of 10 species of Hybanthus and one of Anchietea in South America were analysed in the present study. Most of the previous chromosomal data relating to Hybanthus were obtained from Australian species, and chromosomal information relating to Anchietea was not available until now. Three different chromosome numbers were found: 2n = 16 for Anchietea parvifolia Hallier f., Hybanthus bigibbosus (A. St.‐Hil.) Hassl., H. paraguariensis (Chodat) Schulze‐Menz and H. atropurpureus (A. St.‐Hil.) Taub.; 2n = 32 for H. bicolor (A. St.‐Hil.) Baill., H. calceolaria (L.) Oken, H. communis (A. St.‐Hil.) Taub., H. hasslerianus (Chodat) Hassl., H. leucopogon Sparre and H. nanus (A. St.‐Hil.) Paula‐Souza; and 2n = 48 for H. longistylus Schulze‐Menz. These were the first reports for eight species of Hybanthus and the first one for the genus Anchietea. For H. communis and H. atropurpureus, we confirm their chromosome numbers and describe their meiotic behaviour. The presence of B‐chromosomes in H. atropurpureus, H. communis and H. hasslerianus is reported here for the first time in the genus Hybanthus. In the light of these findings, polyploidy likely played an important role during the speciation of this heterogeneous generic assembly.
Acknowledgements
We thank Massimiliano Dematteis, Germán Roitman and Alicia López for help during the collection trips, Lidia Poggio for help with the facilities in the lab and Mariana G. López, Harvey E. Ballard, Thomas Marcussen and Heather Machado for valuable suggestions on the manuscript. We are very grateful to the Administración de Parques Nacionales of Argentina, NP El Palmar and Iguazú, and to all the staff in these sites. This study was supported by EX317, PIP 5927/05, PICT 14119 directed by Lidia Poggio, CIC‐PBA and IAPT Research Grants 2007.
