| Solanum series Conicibaccata is thought to contain about 40 wild potato (section Petota) species distributed from southern Mexico to central Bolivia. This study examined their species boundaries and interrelationships by morphology and COSII sequence data. The morphological study failed to discriminate species boundaries and showed low resolution inside the series showing six main groups: (1) S. agrimonifolium and S. oxycarpum as a possible single species, and (2) S. longiconicum (tetraploids from Mexico and Central America), (3) the South American Conicibaccata diploids as a possible single species, except for (4) S. trinitense that is distinctive, (5) the South American tetraploids as a group except for (6) S. flahaultii that is distinctive. The molecular analyses showed low resolution for the series, the diploid members are related to other South American "clade 4" species, the polyploid members to be of allopolyploid origins with members of clade 4 and other South American species of "clade 3", and low bootstrap support values among clade 4 species, suggesting very recent origins. Combined morphological and molecular results led me to reduce the number of species and recognize 16 species, with synonymy relative to the latest comprehensive taxonomic treatment. |
