Towards a monophyletic Melicope (Rutaceae): Phylogenetic placement of Dutailliopsis and other New Caledonian genera, and an updated infrageneric classification of Melicope

Dutailliopsis (Rutaceae) is a scarcely known monotypic genus from New Caledonia. It is one of the few genera of Rutaceae that has never been included in a molecular phylogenetic study. Based on Sanger sequencing of the markers ETS, ITS, and trn L- trn F, we conclude that Dutailliopsis is nested within the large genus Melicope and that it is most closely related to other New Caledonian species of Melicope.

Previous molecular phylogenetic studies revealed that other New Caledonian genera – namely the endemic Comptonella, Dutaillyea, Picrella, and the near-endemic Sarcomelicope (only one out of the nine species is not endemic to New Caledonia) – are nested in Melicope as well and we propose nomenclatural changes to render Melicope monophyletic and develop a new classification system for the genus.