Tribe (biology)

About: Tribe (biology) is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 4682 publications have been published within this topic receiving 58983 citations. The topic is also known as: tribus.

Untangling the phylogeny of neotropical lianas (Bignonieae, Bignoniaceae)

Abstract: The tribe Bignonieae (Bignoniaceae) is a large and morphologically diverse clade of neotropical lianas. Despite being a conspicuous component of the neotropical flora, the systematics of the tribe has remained uncertain due to confusing patterns of morphological variation within the group. Chloroplast (ndhF) and nuclear (PepC) DNA sequences were used here to reconstruct the phylogeny of Bignonieae. Individual analyses of ndhF and PepC were highly similar to one another, yet localized differences in the placement of six species suggests some conflict between data sets. Combined analyses result in trees that are consistent with those from the individual analyses and provide greater support for the suggested relationships. This phylogeny provides important new insights into the systematics of the tribe. It identifies 21 strongly supported species groups, eight of which broadly correspond to currently recognized genera. In addition, each of these 21 species groups is supported by morphological synapomorphies. The consistency between morphological and molecular data suggests that the current phylogeny provides a solid framework for a formal revision of the generic-level classification and for addressing other aspects of the biology of Bignonieae.

A Revision of the Tribe Antirrhineae

Abstract: Previous taxonomic treatments of the tribe materials and methods characters of taxonomic importance - evaluation and function taxonomic descriptions phylogenetic interpretations summary and conclusions.

The Illusion of Tribe

Abstract: CONTROVERSIAL though the matter is, the most generally acceptable characteristics of a tribal society are perhaps that it is a whole society, with a high degree of self-sufficiency at a near subsistence level, based on a relatively simple technology without writing or literature, politically autonomous and with its own distinctive language, culture and sense of identity, tribal religion being also coterminous with tribal society. Some would insist on further differentiation of the tribal level of social and cultural organization, on the one hand, from the very small scale band level characteristic of hunting and gathering peoples without agriculture, and on the other, from state or state-like organizations found at the upper limit of scale and complexity within the range of non-literate societies. Thus, Sahlins (1961, 323) speaks of the 'tribal level, as distinguished from less-developed bands and more advanced chiefdoms'. This point of view has not found much favour and can be criticised on a number of counts. At the empirical level, tribes and bands do not appear as distinct as is implied, and the concept of 'chief' and 'chiefdom', while clear to some writers, is highly variable and inconsistent in the ethnographic literature as a whole. The empirical difficulties of distinguishing the tribal level in the broad sense have been considerable, and the addition of two further levels seems to make them insurmountable. It is not by multiplying global distinctions of this sort that we shall progress, but by dealing with more specialised categories of phe-