Die phytosoziologischen, morphologischen, DNA-molekularen und öko-geografischen Daten sprechen für einen Status von P. rigoana als eigenständiger Art. Insofern ist die alternative Hypothese einer spontanen hybridogenen Entstehung hinfällig. Der Artrang wird zusätzlich durch das große Verbreitungsgebiet dieses Taxons unterstützt, und die gewählte Klassifikation entspricht der Forderung, Arten umfassend zu definieren (Hörandl 1998). Weiters hat sich für P. rigoana eine ökologische und geografische allopatrische Differenzierung gezeigt. Einige Fragen sind jedoch offen geblieben: so kann noch keine abschließende Beurteilung zum evolutionären Herkunftsgebiet von P. rigoana getroffen werden: Apennin, Balkan oder beide Gebiete. Zudem bedarf es noch weiterer Untersuchungen zur Klärung der Evolution und der taxonomischen Differenzierung der Aureae Opacae auf dem Balkan. Schlagwort: Apomixis / Hybridisierung / Italien / Karyologie / Morphologie / Ökologie / Potentilla / Soziologie / Systematik / Taxonomie In my diploma work I studied the systematic of the rosaceous species Potentilla rigona Th. Wolf which is a member of the subseries Aureae opacae. Potentilla rigona originally has been considered to be endemic in the Apennines, but its actual taxonomic was disputed. I wanted to clarify if this taxon is a species of its own right or a just a spontaneous hybrid of its close relatives Potentilla crantzii and Potentilla heptaphylla s.l. Specifically, I focused on the taxonomy and evolutionary origin of P. rigoana. For this purpose 54 populations located to the Central and Southern Apennines were collected. I applied an interdisciplinary approach, i.e. I related morphometric, karyological, DNA-molecular (AFLP), ecogeographical, and phytosociological data. The separation of P. rigoana from P. crantzii and P. heptaphylla s.l. was indicated by morphometric analyses based on 16 metric and 2 nominal discriminant characters. Concerning the phytosociological data, P. rigoana was ecologically intermediate between its close relatives with regard to temperature, moisture and altitudinal distribution. The karyological data revealed five ploidy levels (diploid to heptaploid), with the diploid and tetraploid levels being the dominant levels. These dominant ploidy levels were settled in the Central and Southern Apennines. One observed purely heptaploid populations in the Central Apennine justed apomixis. The analyses support that P. rigoana is a species of its own right. The Apennines are probably not the only distribution area because morphometry suggested an additional occurrence in the Balkans. Some open questions remained: Thus, the place of origin of the species remained unknown. Furthermore, there´s a need to clarify the evolutionary differentiation and the taxonomic limits of P. rigoana in the Balkans, where the Aureae Opacae exhibited a more complex differentiation.
