Adansonia
Species

As of July 2020, there are eight recognized species of Adansonia, with six endemic to Madagascar, one native to mainland Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, and one native to Australia. The mainland African species (Adansonia digitata) also occurs on Madagascar, but it is not a native of that island. Baobabs were introduced in ancient times to south Asia and during the colonial era to the Caribbean. They are also present in the island nation of Cape Verde. A ninth species was described in 2012 (Adansonia kilima Pettigrew, et al.) but is no longer recognized as a distinct species. The African and Australian baobabs are similar in appearance, and the oldest splits within Adansonia are likely no older than 15 million years; thus, the Australian species represents a long-distance trans- oceanic dispersal event from Africa. The lineage leading to Adansonia was found to have diverged from its closest relatives in Bombacoideae like Ceiba / Chorisia at the end of the Eocene, during a time of abrupt global climate cooling and drying, while a divergence of this Adansonia + Ceiba / Chorisia clade from Pachira was found to be more ancient, dating to the middle Eocene.
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