Identifying discontinuous entities within species complexes is a major topic in systematic and evolutionary biology. Comprehensive inventories describing and identifying species rapidly and correctly before they or their habitats disappear is especially important in megadiverse regions, such as South America continent, where a large part of the biodiversity is still unknown and remains to be discovered. Species complexes may account for a substantial number of plant groups in the South American flora, and studies investigating species boundaries in such challenging groups are needed. In this context, multidisciplinary approaches are crucial to understanding the species integrity and boundaries within species complexes. Morphometrics, cytogenetics, anatomy, crossing experiments, and molecular markers have been combined in different ways to investigate species complexes and have helped depict the mechanisms underlying the origin of South American species. Here, we review the current knowledge about plant species complexes on the hyperdiverse South American continent based on a detailed examination of the relevant literature. We discuss the main findings in light of the potential evolutionary mechanisms involved in speciation and suggest future directions in terms of integrating multispecies coalescence methods with several complementary types of morphological, ecological, and geographical data in this research field.

中文翻译：

---

植物物种复合体作为理解物种形成和进化的模型：南美研究综述

识别物种复合体中的不连续实体是系统和进化生物学中的一个主要主题。在诸如南美大陆这样的大面积生物多样性地区，其大部分生物多样性仍然未知且有待发现的地区，在物种或它们的栖息地消失之前迅速，正确地描述和识别物种的综合清单尤其重要。物种复合体可能在南美植物区系中占了很大的植物群，因此，需要进行研究以调查这些具有挑战性的群体中的物种边界。在这种情况下，多学科方法对于理解物种完整性和物种复合体内的边界至关重要。形态计量学，细胞遗传学，解剖学，交叉实验，分子标记物已通过不同方式组合在一起，以研究物种复合物，并帮助描绘了南美物种起源的潜在机制。在这里，我们在对相关文献进行详细检查的基础上，回顾了有关南美洲超生物多样性地区植物物种复合体的当前知识。我们根据物种形成的潜在进化机制讨论了主要发现，并就将多物种合并方法与该研究领域的几种形态学，生态学和地理数据的互补类型相结合提出了未来的方向。我们在对相关文献进行详细检查的基础上，回顾了南美洲超生物多样性地区有关植物物种复合体的当前知识。我们根据物种形成的潜在进化机制讨论了主要发现，并就将多物种合并方法与该研究领域的几种形态学，生态学和地理数据的互补类型相结合提出了未来的方向。我们在对相关文献进行详细检查的基础上，回顾了有关南美洲超多样化植物物种复合体的最新知识。我们根据物种形成的潜在进化机制讨论了主要发现，并就将多物种合并方法与该研究领域的几种形态学，生态学和地理数据的互补类型相结合提出了未来的方向。