Genomewide variation provides insight into evolutionary relationships in a monkeyflower species complex (Mimulus sect. Diplacus).

Premise Of The Study: Evolutionary radiations provide excellent opportunities to study the origins of biodiversity, but rapid divergence and ongoing gene flow make inferring evolutionary relationships among taxa difficult. Consequently, combining morphological and genomic analyses will be necessary to clarify the evolutionary history of radiations. We used an integrative approach to shed light on relationships within a diverse radiation of monkeyflowers (Mimulus section Diplacus) with a controversial taxonomic history.

Methods: We used genomewide single nucleotide polymorphism data and a combination of phylogenetic and population genomic analyses to infer the evolutionary relationships within the group. Tests for hybridization were performed to reveal sources of shared variation, and multivariate analyses of floral trait data were conducted to examine the correspondence between phenotypic and phylogenetic data.

Key Results: We identified four primary clades with evidence for some shared variation among them. We also detected evidence for recent gene flow between closely related subclades and populations. Strong discordance between floral trait and molecular data provides evidence for divergent and convergent phenotypic evolution.

Conclusions: Mimulus section Diplacus has all the hallmarks of a rapid radiation, including diverse taxa that are at different stages of divergence, extensive shared variation among taxa, and complex patterns of phenotypic evolution. Our findings will direct future evolutionary research and have important taxonomic implications that highlight the need for a new revision of section Diplacus.