Data from: Phylogeny of Paullinia L. (Paullinieae: Sapindaceae), a diverse genus of lianas with dynamic fruit evolution

Paullinia L. is a genus of c. 220 mostly Neotropical forest-dwelling
lianas that display a wide diversity of fruit morphologies. Paullinia
resembles other members of the Paullinieae tribe in being a climber with
stipulate compound leaves and paired inflorescence tendrils. However, it
is distinct in having capsular fruits with woody, coriaceous, or
crustaceous pericarps. While consistent in this basic plan, the pericarps
of Paullinia fruits are otherwise highly variable—in some species they are
winged, whereas in others they are without wings or covered with spines.
With the exception of the water-dispersed indehiscent spiny fruits of some
members of Paullinia sect. Castanella, all species are dehiscent, opening
their capsules while they are still attached to the branch, to reveal
arillate animal-dispersed seeds. Here we present a molecular phylogeny of
Paullinia derived from 11 molecular markers, including nine
newly-developed single-copy nuclear markers amplified by microfluidics
PCR. This is the first broadly sampled molecular phylogeny for the genus.
Paullinia is supported as monophyletic and is sister to Cardiospermum L.,
which together are sister to Serjania Mill + Urvillea Kunth. We apply this
novel phylogenetic hypothesis to test previous infrageneric
classifications and to infer that unwinged fruits represent the ancestral
condition, from which there were repeated evolutionary transitions and
reversals. However, because the seeds of both winged and unwinged fruits
are dispersed by animals, we conclude that the repeated transitions in
fruit morphology may relate to visual display strategies to attract animal
dispersers, and do not represent transitions to wind dispersal.