Unmasking cryptic species: morphometric and phylogenetic analyses of the Ibero-North African<i>Linaria incarnata</i>complex

Abstract

Linaria incarnata has been treated as a widely distributed Ibero-North African species in the latest taxonomic reviews. Morphological and phylogenetic disparity between populations of this species has been previously reported. Here we present new morphological and phylogenetic evidence for the disintegration of L. incarnata into three distinct species: L. incarnata from the western Iberian Peninsula; L. mamorensis sp. nov. from north-western Morocco; and L. onubensis from south-western Spain. The relatively poor morphological differentiation between these taxa (which can be regarded as cryptic species) and their distinct phylogenetic positions indicate that characters of the L. incarnata morphotype have been acquired multiple times in the evolution of Linaria section Versicolores.