Bahiopsis is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae (order Asterales), placed within the tribe Heliantheae. It is native to North America, specifically the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, where several species are endemic to the Baja California Peninsula in the Mexican states of Baja California and Baja California Sur.
The genus was historically treated as part of the large, broadly defined genus Viguiera Kunth. In 2002 and 2011, botanists Schilling and Panero conducted molecular phylogenetic studies of the subtribe Helianthinae using nuclear ITS, ETS, and chloroplast DNA sequences, concluding that Viguiera as traditionally circumscribed did not form a monophyletic group. They proposed reclassifying its species across at least eleven genera, with a portion of the former Viguiera species transferred to Bahiopsis Kellogg. The genus currently comprises around ten accepted species.
Distribution
Bahiopsis is native to the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. Its center of diversity lies on the Baja California Peninsula, where several species are endemic to the Mexican states of Baja California and Baja California Sur.
Taxonomy Notes
Bahiopsis was segregated from the broad genus Viguiera Kunth following molecular phylogenetic work by Schilling and Panero (2002, 2011), which demonstrated that Viguiera sensu lato was not monophyletic. Their analyses of nuclear ITS, ETS, and cpDNA sequences led to the redistribution of Viguiera species across at least eleven genera, including Bahiopsis Kellogg, Aldama, Heliomeris, and Dendroviguiera.
