Taxonomic revision of species of the genus Kailashia based on analysis of morphological data and molecular phylogeny

Abstract

The article clarifies the species composition of the genus Kailashia using molecular phylogenetic methods and compares the results with the morphological data presented in the paper of Kljuykov et al. (2022). For molecular phylogenetic analysis, herbarium samples were taken from the MW, HARV, KUN and NAS herbariums. Internal transcribed spacers (ITS1 and ITS2) of the 18S-26S region of nuclear ribosomal DNA were chosen as a molecular marker. The description of the new species Kailasia bouffordii based on the results of previous morphological studies (Kljuykov et al., 2022) is consistent with the results of the reconstruction of molecular phylogeny. Kailashia is a small natural genus with three endemic species (K. robusta, K. xizangensis, K. bouffordii) that form a high posterior monophyletic group in the Selineae clade.