Abstract:Arenaria L. s.l. is one of the taxonomically difficult large genera in Caryophyllaceae, it was recircumscribed recently and some other genera were segregated from it based on molecular phylogenetic results. Based on morphological evidence, the species Arenaria melandryoides Edgew. was placed previously within A. subgenus Odontostemma (G. Don) Williams or recently within the genera Odontostemma Benth. ex G. Don and Shivparvatia (Edgew.) Pusalkar & D. K. Singh, however the species has never been included in molecular phylogenetic study. The phylogeny of Alsineae using the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (nrITS) sequence was reconstructed. The result showed that the monophyly of the genus Odontostemma circumscribed recently was rejected and A. melandryoides was nested deeply within Shivparvatia, thus the specific name S. melandryoides (Edgew.) Satish Chandra and D. S. Rawat should be accepted. Additionally, the transfer of A. saginoides Maxim., A. spathulifolia C. Y. Wu ex L. H. Zhou and A. yunnanensis Franch. to the genus Odontostemma and A. rhodantha Pax & K. Hoffmann to Shivparvatia were all supported here for the first time in molecular phylogenetic analyses. Morphologically, the solitary flower at the top of stem might be a good diagnostic character to distinguish the genus Shivparvatia from Odontostemma.
