Data from: Phylogeny and spatio-temporal diversification of Prunus subgenus Laurocerasus section Mesopygeum (Rosaceae) in the Malesian region

The goals of this study were to reconstruct the phylogeny of Prunus
subgenus Laurocerasus section Mesopygeum and to provide a preliminary
assessment of its spatio-temporal diversification in the Malesian region.
We inferred the phylogeny using nuclear ITS and ETS and plastid psbA-trnH,
rps16, rpl16, and trnC-petN sequences. Our analyses support the monophyly
of sect. Mesopygeum. Within sect. Mesopygeum, we identified four main
subclades: (1) Prunus lancilimba from continental Asia; (2) Prunus ruthii
from Malay Peninsula; (3) a subclade comprising species from areas
centered on the Sunda shelf and also a few species from continental Asia
and Wallacea; and (4) a subclade composed of species from areas of the
Sahul shelf, with a small number of taxa also from areas of the Sunda
shelf, continental Asia, and the Philippines. We estimated that sect.
Mesopygeum originated in continental Asia at c. 44.71 Mya (95% HPD:
31.66–46.90). Nine dispersals between major geographic areas were
inferred. From continental Asia, three and two dispersals were inferred to
the Sunda shelf and the Sahul shelf in the mid-Oligocene, respectively.
Two dispersals were inferred from the Sahul shelf region to the Sunda
shelf in late Oligecene and early Miocene, respectively. There were also
two dispersals inferred from the Sunda shelf region, one to the
Philippines and one to Wallacea, in the middle and late Miocene,
respectively. The diversification in sect. Mesopygeum was likely driven by
active geologic events and orogenies in the Neogene in the Malesian
region.