A New Phylogenetic Hypothesis for Cereinae (Cactaceae) Points to a Monophyletic Subtribe

Abstract— Cereinae comprises 14 genera distributed in Neotropical dry forest formations such as the Caatingas of northeastern Brazil or rocky outcrops north southeastern Brazil. Historically, taxonomy group has been very controversial, especially regarding generic circumscriptions, and phylogenetic relationships within are still poorly understood. To investigate delimitation subtribe infra-subtribal relationships, we performed a analysis including 50 taxa representing 13 using one nuclear ( PhyC ) four cpDNA petL-psbE , trnL-trnT trnS-trnG rpl16 regions. Our results show monophyletic with high support Bayesian, maximum parsimony, likelihood analyses based on combined matrices. Although our expand knowledge emphasize need for further molecular studies ecological evidence to clarify at more inclusive nodes subtribe.