Revealing cryptic diversity is of great importance for effective conservation and understanding macroevolution and ecology of plants. Ottelia, a typical example of aquatic plants, possesses extremely variable morphology and the presence of cryptic diversity makes its classification problematic. Previous studies have revealed cryptic Ottelia species in Asia, but very little is known about the molecular systematics of this genus in Africa, a center of species diversity of Ottelia. In this study, we sampled Ottelia ulvifolia, an endemic species of tropical Africa, from Zambia and Cameroon. We used six chloroplast DNA regions, nrITS and six polymorphic microsatellite markers to estimate the molecular diversity and population genetic structure in O. ulvifolia. The phylogenetic inference, STACEY and STRUCTURE analyses supported at least three clusters within O. ulvifolia, each representing unique flower types (i.e., bisexual yellow flower, unisexual yellow flower and bisexual white flower types). Although abundant genetic variation (> 50%) was observed within the populations, excessive anthropogenic activities may result in genetic drift and bottlenecks. Here, three cryptic species of O. ulvifolia complex are defined, and insights are provided into the taxonomy of Ottelia using the phylogenetic species concept.

中文翻译：

---

通过种群遗传和系统发育分析揭示了非洲水生植物Ottelia ulvifolia（Hydrocharitaceae）内的隐性多样性。

揭示隐秘多样性对于有效保护和理解植物的宏观进化和生态学至关重要。奥特利亚（Ottelia）是水生植物的典型例子，其形态极为可变，而且隐性多样性的存在也​​使其分类成为问题。先前的研究已经揭示了亚洲的奥特里亚属隐性物种，但对该物种在非洲的一种分子系统学知之甚少，非洲是奥特里亚物种多样性的中心。在这项研究中，我们从赞比亚和喀麦隆抽取了非洲热带特有种Ottelia ulvifolia。我们使用六个叶绿体DNA区域，nrITS和六个多态性微卫星标记来估计O.ulvifolia的分子多样性和种群遗传结构。系统发生推断 STACEY和STRUCTURE分析支持O.ulvifolia中的至少三个簇，每个簇代表独特的花类型（即双性黄花，单性黄花和双性白花类型）。尽管在种群中观察到了丰富的遗传变异（> 50％），但是过度的人为活动可能会导致遗传漂移和瓶颈。在这里，确定了O. ulvifolia复合体的三个隐性物种，并使用系统发育物种概念提供了对Ottelia分类学的见解。