Kevin Thiele

University of Western Australia | UWA · School of Plant Biology

Sapindales is an angiosperm order of high economic and ecological value comprising nine families, c. 479 genera, and c. 6570 species. However, family and subfamily relationships in Sapindales remain unclear, making reconstruction of the order’s spatio-temporal and morphological evolution difficult. In this study, we used Angiosperms353 target captu...

There has been historical confusion and error in the application and typification of the name Pleurandra glaucophylla Steud., likely caused by a slip of the pen on the original collecting label which caused the collecting number assigned by Preiss (2179) to be mis-transcribed as 2159, a number already used for another Preiss collection. We show tha...

Aglaia is the most widespread and species-rich genus in Meliaceae , comprising 124 species. Aglaia elaeagnoidea has presented a longstanding dilemma for taxonomists; it is highly morphologically and ecologically variable, and has a range extending across India, Southeast Asia, Australia and islands of the western Pacific Ocean. Previous work has ex...

Mistletoes are fascinating, diverse, colourful and ecologically important plants, found in most parts of Western Australia. Mistletoes of Western Australia is a guide to their identification, ecology, conservation, biogeography and evolution, including how they cope with fire. The book explores the relevance of mistletoes to the biodiversity of the...

The new species Hibbertia advena T.Hammer & Toelken is described. It occurs in north-east Queensland but shares a strong morphological affinity with members of the H. exasperata (Steud.) Briq. species group, which are widespread in south-west Western Australia. This may be an example of a very wide transcontinental disjunction in Australian Hibbert...

Recent proposals to amend the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (the Code) to allow the rejection of names that honour historical individuals who committed crimes against humanity has sparked a counter-reaction that we believe misrepresents both the intent and mechanism of the proposals. In this short paper we point ou...

The south-west Western Australian species Hibbertia striata (Steud.) K.R.Thiele was reinstated in 2017, segregated from the historically misunderstood H. huegelii (Endl.) F.Muell. Since that time, field work has shown that H. striata comprises two distinctly different morphotypes. Plants from the eastern (drier) edge of the range are consistently s...

three new species of Calytrix endemic to Western Australia are described.

Treatment of the Rhamnaceae genus Trymalium for the FLORA OF AUSTRALIA (online edition). https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Trymalium

With this paper we introduce the Australian Journal of Taxonomy and outline its scope, rationale, workflow and governance. The journal is published by Taxonomy Australia, a national collaboration by the Australian taxonomic community. Australian Journal of Taxonomy is one of the world's first fully-online journals. Papers are born-digital and born-...

Treatment of the Rhamnaceae genus Stenanthemum for the FLORA OF AUSTRALIA (online edition). https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Stenanthemum

In a recent article electronically published in Taxon as a “Point of View” in 2021 (and subsequently in hardcopy as a “Perspective” in 2022), Gideon F. Smith and Estrela Figueiredo commented on the undesirability of the continued commemoration of people of severely questionable ethics, including the imperialist Cecil John Rhodes (1853–1902), in bot...

Hibbertia archeri T.Hammer & K.R.Thiele is described here as new based on specimens from two populations northeast of Esperance, Western Australia. The species is closest morphologically to H. devitata Toelken in South Australia and Victoria, which is part of the H. stricta (R.Br. ex DC.) F.Muell. morphological species group in H. subg. Hemistemma...

Treatment of the genus Hibbertia (Dilleniaceae) for the FLORA OF AUSTRALIA (online edition). https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Hibbertia

Family treatment for Rhamnaceae for FLORA OF AUSTRALIA (online edition). https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Rhamnaceae

Treatments of the following Rhamnaceae genera for the FLORA OF AUSTRALIA (online edition): Alphitonia, Blackallia, Colubrina, Emmenosperma, Gouania, Granitites, Hovenia, Noltea, Papistylus, Polianthion, Rhamnella, Rhamnus, Sageretia, Schistocarpaea, Serichonus, Siegfriedia, Ventilago & Ziziphus. https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Alphito...

A consensus among biologists has been growing in recent years for the development of a global list of accepted species (and other taxa). To date, much discussion has focused on visions for how such a list would benefit many scientific and societal disciplines. Less emphasis has been placed on understanding the many technical challenges of compiling...

Species lists are widely used in legislation and regulation to manage and conserve biodiversity. In this paper, we explore the issues caused by the lack of an adequately governed and universally accepted list of the world's species. These include lack of quality control, duplicated effort, conflicts of interest, lack of currency, and confusion in t...

Despite the important role that species names play in multiple fields, there is no globally complete list of known and described species. This lack is a result simultaneously of the complexity of planetary biodiversity, the long history of naming species in publications from all over the world, the small number of taxonomists working on many import...

Premise: Continental-scale disjunctions and associated drivers are core research interests in biogeographic studies. Here, we selected a species-rich Australian plant genus (Calytrix; Myrtaceae) as a case study to investigate these patterns. Species of this endemic Australian starflower genus have a disjunct distribution across the mesic fringes o...

In the present study, we tested the chronological and geographic origins of the mostly arid Australian Ptilotus (Amaranthaceae) and its close relatives (i.e. the ‘aervoids’) by reconstructing a dated phylogeny with near-comprehensive sampling for Ptilotus and estimating ancestral geographic ranges. We investigated climatic niche evolution within Pt...

Governance is the act of governing or organizing, that is a system of rules, norms, or shared strategies to guide or regulate the actions of the governed. Since the initial development of Linnaean taxonomy, a diversity of approaches have been adopted for critical taxonomic decisions, introducing pluralism to taxonomic principles and resulting in di...

Taxonomy—the delimitation, naming, classification and documentation of species and other taxa—is an often-misunderstood discipline. Complex and at times contested, taxonomy occupies a sometimes discomforting intermediate position on a continuum from descriptive to hypothetico-deductive science. Two aspects of taxonomy that are striking to many obse...

A global consensus list of the world’s species must be based on the best available taxonomic research, and its contents should not be biased towards certain political or social aims. At the same time, users of any global list must be involved or consulted in its establishment to ensure that the list meets their needs. This paper argues that while t...

Descriptions are provided for ten taxa of Stenanthemum Reissek published in the 19th century and their typification is clarified. Lectotypes are chosen for St. divaricatum (Benth.) Rye, St. humile Benth., St. leucophractum (Schltdl.) Reissek, St. pimeleoides (Hook.f.) Benth., St. pumilum (F.Muell.) Diels and Cryptandra subgen. Solenandra Reissek (a...

Aim Exchange of plant lineages between Australia and Southeast Asia has had a substantial impact on the evolution of Australia's northern, tropical flora, with important ramifications for its conservation and biosecurity. Despite this, floristic exchange tracks between northern Australia and Southeast Asia remain poorly understood. To address this,...

Aim Gondwanan biogeographic patterns include a combination of old vicariance events following the breakup of the supercontinent, and more recent long-distance dispersals across the southern landmasses. Floristic relationships between Australia and New Zealand have mostly been attributed to recent dispersal events rather than vicariance. We assessed...

Cytonuclear discordance, commonly detected in phylogenetic studies, is often attributed to hybridization and/or incomplete lineage sorting (ILS). New sequencing technologies and analytical approaches can provide new insights into the relative importance of these processes. Hybridization has previously been reported in the Australian endemic plant g...

The Miocene convergence of the Sunda shelf, Sahul shelf and Wallacea facilitated the exchange of previously isolated floras across the Sunda–Sahul Convergence Zone (SSCZ). The SSCZ is a hotspot of biogeographical research; however, phytogeographical patterns across the region remain poorly understood. We conducted multivariate analysis on a compreh...

The Miocene convergence of the Sunda shelf, Sahul shelf and Wallacea facilitated the exchange of previously isolated floras across the Sunda–Sahul Convergence Zone (SSCZ). The SSCZ is a hotspot of biogeographical research; however, phytogeographical patterns across the region remain poorly understood. We conducted multivariate analysis on a compreh...

Lists of species underpin many fields of human endeavour, but there are currently no universally accepted principles for deciding which biological species should be accepted when there are alternative taxonomic treatments (and, by extension, which scientific names should be applied to those species). As improvements in information technology make i...

Background The Sunda-Sahul Convergence Zone, defined here as the area comprising Australia, New Guinea, and Southeast Asia (Indonesia to Myanmar), straddles the Sunda and Sahul continental shelves and is one of the most biogeographically famous and important regions in the world. Floristically, it is thought to harbour a large amount of the world’s...

Hammer, T.A., Davis, R.W. & Thiele, K.R. (2020). Clarification of species boundaries within the Ptilotus royceanus Benl (Amaranthaceae) group. Austrobaileya 10(4): 628-638. The Ptilotus royceanus Benl species group comprises P. royceanus, P. mollis Benl and P. maconochiei Benl. Ptilotus royceanus as currently circumscribed has a disjunct distributi...

A new classification of Myrtaceae tribe Chamelaucieae DC., derived from a molecular phylogenetic analysis based on nr ETS and cp trnK and atpB–rbcL spacer sequences, is presented. Eleven subtribes are recognised, eight of which are new. The currently accepted circumscriptions of subtribes Calytricinae Benth. and ‘Euchamelaucieae Benth.’ (nom. inval...

The diversification dynamics of the Australian temperate flora remains poorly understood. Here, we investigate whether differences in plant richness in the southwest Australian (SWA) biodiversity hotspot and southeast Australian (SEA) regions of the Australian continent can be attributed to higher net diversification, more time for species accumula...

Background: Herbaria are valuable sources of extensive curated plant material that are now accessible to genetic studies because of advances in high-throughput, next-generation sequencing methods. As an applied assessment of large-scale recovery of plastid and ribosomal genome sequences from herbarium material for plant identification and phylogen...

Viola hederacea subsp. curtisiae has till now been a poorly understood taxon, represented by very few specimens from near Mount Field, Tasmania. Field and glasshouse observations of a Viola found on the Mount Baw Baw plateau, Victoria, showed that it matches the protologue of V. hederacea subsp. curtisiae. Field observations at the type locality in...

The informally named “aervoid clade” in Amaranthaceae includes ~134 species in five genera: Ptilotus (~120 spp.), Aerva (11 spp.) and the monotypic Nothosaerva, Omegandra, and Kelita. The relationships of the small aervoid genera to the large genus Ptilotus, and relationships between major clades within Ptilotus, are poorly resolved. The aims of th...

The Hibbertia commutata Steud. species group comprises 27 species in Hibbertia Andr. subgenus Hibbertia, all being endemic in south-western Western Australia it is the largest species group in that state. Several taxa in the group have been the subject of considerable confusion in the past, with inadequate understanding of species boundaries leadin...

Ptilotus macrocephalus (R.Br.) Poir. (Amaranthaceae), commonly known as a featherhead, is a widespread and common species in many parts of Australia. In the present study, we assess morphological variation in P. macrocephalus throughout its geographic range and provide evidence for the recognition of two new species, namely, P. psilorhachis T.Hamme...

The Australian arid zone (AAZ) has undergone aridification and the formation of vast sandy deserts since the mid-Miocene. Studies on AAZ organisms, particularly animals, have shown patterns of mesic ancestry, persistence in rocky refugia and range expansions in arid lineages. There has been limited molecular investigation of plants in the AAZ, part...

Viola banksii of the eastern Australian and Tasmanian sect. Erpetion produces exclusively chasmogamous flowers, unlike most other temperate taxa of Viola which additionally produce obligatory self-pollinated cleistogamous flowers. This study explored flower structure and nyctinastic flower movements (temporal flower closure), the correlation of the...

Viola banksii, the type species of section Erpetion, is endemic in eastern mainland Australia. In this paper we characterise morphological and anatomical features and assess genome size and genetic diversity in combination with the breeding system. V. banksii develops exclusively chasmogamous flowers. Ovules are anatropous, crassinucellate and bite...

Ptilotus R.Br. (Amaranthaceae) is a genus of approximately 120 species, all of which are native to continental Australia and with most of the diversity occurring in Western Australia. A key is presented here for 93 species recognised in Western Australia.

Ecological traits provide many characters that are not, or are only informally, evaluated in traditional taxonomy. Such traits may provide supporting evidence for lineage separation, particularly among closely related taxa, and help elucidate the role of natural selection on their populations and evolution. The Australian genus Ptilotus (Amarantha...

The informally named ‘aervoid’ clade includes the Australian genera Ptilotus R.Br. (~120 spp.), Kelita A.R.Bean (1 sp.) and Omegandra G.J. Leach & C.C.Towns (1 sp.) and the African-Asian genera Aerva Forssk. (11 spp.) and Nothosaerva Wight (1 sp.). Previous studies using Sanger sequences failed to fully resolve the backbone of this clade and betwee...

The evolutionary history of the dracaenoid genera Dracaena and Sansevieria (Asparagaceae, Nolinoideae) remains poorly resolved, despite long-recognised issues with their generic boundaries and increased attention paid by both horticulturalists and taxonomists. In this study we aim to: (1) elucidate evolutionary relationships within and between Drac...

A molecular study on Ptilotus nobilis (Lindl.) F.Muell. var. nobilis and P. exaltatus Nees var. exaltatus led to the conclusion that these taxa are conspecific, resulting in the synonymisation of the latter under the former as P. nobilis subsp. nobilis. In this study, we test previous taxonomic concepts in the P. nobilis-P. exaltatus species group...

Premise of the Study Calandrinia are small, succulent herbs that vary broadly in habitat, morphology, life history, and photosynthetic metabolism. The lineage is placed within the Montiaceae, which in turn is sister to the rest of the Portulacineae (Caryophyllales). Calandrinia occupy two distinct biogeographic regions, one in the Americas (~14 spe...

Models of vegetation dynamics framed as testable hypotheses provide powerful tools for predicting vegetation change in response to contemporary disturbances or climate change. Synthesizing existing information and applying new data, we develop a conceptual model of vegetation states and transitions for the previously overlooked woodlands dominated...

Ptilotus R.Br. (Amaranthaceae) is a widespread and species-rich Australian genus. One of the most common arid species, Ptilotus gaudichaudii (Steud.) J.M.Black (paper foxtail), currently comprises the following three subspecies: subsp. gaudichaudii, subsp. eremita (S.Moore) Lally and subsp. parviflorus (Benth.) Lally. In the present study, we re-ev...

We present our investigation of the Ptilotus nobilis species group, critically re-examining the previous decision to combine Ptilotus exaltatus within Ptilotus nobilis.

PhD Proposal

In this taxonomic review of the Calytrix acutifolia (Lindl.) Craven species complex we recognise four species, one of which (C. retrorsifolia Nge & Keighery) is described as new. Lhotskya hirta Regel is recombined into Calytrix Labill. as C. hirta (Regel) Nge & K.R.Thiele, while L. scabra Turcz. is recombined as C. cravenii Nge & K.R.Thiele. Calytr...

Perennial grasses commonly known as 'spinifex' (Triodia R.Br.) are iconic Australian plants, predominantly found in the arid interior of the continent. In some areas, such as the economically important Pilbara region of Western Australia, current species taxonomy does not account for observed diversity. Previous morphological and molecular studies...

The Tetratheca hirsuta Lindl. species complex from south-west Western Australia is one of the last unresolved complexes in this Australian endemic genus, and comprises the highly variable T. hirsuta, two rare, phrase-named taxa, and the closely allied T. hispidissima Steetz. An integrative approach, incorporating multivariate morphometric analysis...

Online key to the species of Ptilotus (Amaranthaceae) of Western Australia – part of the Flowering plants of Western Australia project on KeyBase. URL: https://keybase.rbg.vic.gov.au/keys/show/6627

A new monotypic genus from near-coastal areas of Oman and Yemen is here described and named Wadithamnus. The generitype is Wadithamnus artemisioides comb. nov. (basionym Aerva artemisioides). On the basis of morphology, W. artemisioides can be separated from Aerva on the basis of its 3(–7)-flowered cymes and flowers with two outer and four inner te...

Online key to the species of Ptilotus (Amaranthaceae) – part of the Flowering plants of Australia project. URL: http://keybase.rbg.vic.gov.au/keys/show/6609

Next-generation sequencing is becoming increasingly accessible to researchers asking biosystematic questions, but current best practice in both choosing a specific approach and effectively analysing the resulting data set is still being explored. We present a case study for the use of genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) to resolve relationships in a spe...

Sample information for sequencing and analyses. (XLS)

Intra-population distances across 10 populations for parameter h. (A) merged and (B) unmerged data sets. (TIF)

Intra-population distances across 10 populations for parameter mr. (A) merged and (B) unmerged data sets. (TIF)

Details of GBS Library Prepartion. (XLS)

RAxML trees for the unmerged data set. Trees are shown across three clustering thresholds (0.82, 0.91, 0.97) and three minimum taxon coverage levels (25%, 50%, 75%). Support values from 100 bootstrap replicates are only shown for branches with <100% support. Scale bar units are branch lengths from RAxML. Two selected trees are boxed (solid for the...

Intra-population genetic distances for samples from T. basedowii population "Andado" across PyRAD parameter values. (A) merged, and (B) unmerged data sets. Parameters are c: clustering threshold; d: minimum depth for a statistical base call; h: maximum number of shared heterozygous positions; mr: minimum read depth for a dereplicate; n: maximum num...

SNAPP trees and cloudograms for the PyRAD-selected unlinked SNPs and two assemblies. (A) 0.88/0.91 (merged/unmerged) clustering threshold, (B) 0.88/0.82 clustering threshold. Node values are posterior probabilities. Scale bars are coalescent units. (TIF)

SNAPP trees and cloudograms for the biased unlinked SNPs and two assemblies. (A) 0.88/0.91 (merged/unmerged) clustering threshold, (B) 0.88/0.82 clustering threshold. Node values are posterior probabilities. Scale bars are coalescent units. (TIF)

SVDquartets trees for the biased unlinked SNPs and two assemblies. (A) 0.88/0.91 (merged/unmerged) clustering threshold, (B) 0.88/0.82 clustering threshold. Species trees (left) and lineage trees (right). Support from 100 bootstrap replicates are shown for branches with support >75%. Branch lengths do not reflect divergence. (TIF)

Intra-population distances across 10 populations for parameter c. (A) merged and (B) unmerged data sets. (TIF)

Intra-population distances across 10 populations for parameter pl. (A) merged and (B) unmerged data sets. (TIF)

SVDquartets trees for the PyRAD-selected unlinked SNPs and two assemblies. (A) 0.88/0.91 (merged/unmerged) clustering threshold, (B) 0.88/0.82 clustering threshold. Species trees (left) and lineage trees (right). Support from 100 bootstrap replicates are shown for branches with support >75%. Branch lengths do not reflect divergence. (TIF)

Select scripts used in this study. (ZIP)