Résumé
Molecular systematics and species delimitation are highly dependent on phylogenetics. However, incomplete lineage sorting, hybridization, polyploidy and taxon identification difficulties can combine to make phylogenetics uncertain. We used the HYBseq method with the Angiosperm 353 bait kit to elucidate the relationships between Romulea taxa in the Mediterranean. In the first year of the project, 282 accessions from 19 taxa, including narrow endemics and widespread species, were sequenced. Initial results, based on in sillico sequence extraction, revealed significant phylogenetic conflicts due to the high level of individual heterozygosity probably caused by homo or polyploid hybridization. A second approach, based on variant calling and genotyping with mixed ploidy levels, revealed a pattern of differentiation with several robust genetic groups, some of which matching with the taxa. This work, currently in progress, will be completed by a phylogeny of the plastomes, genome size estimates and biometry. This first molecular assessment of the Mediterranean Romulea taxa, provides a much improved systematic of these small, discreet but charismatic geophytes.