Progress in our understanding of the relationships within the “potato-clade” are presented and co-authored by Dr. Gregory Anderson in: Tepe E.J., G.J. Anderson, D.M. Spooner & L. Bohs. 2016. Relationships among wild relatives of the tomato, potato, and pepino. Taxon 65: 262–276. (pdf)

Some of the specimens studied are deposited in the BRC herbarium.

The abstract reads: With ca. 200 species, the informally named Potato clade represents one of the larger subgroups of the estimated 1500 species of Solanum. Because its members include the potato (S. tuberosum), tomato (S. lycopersicum), and pepino (S. muricatum), it is the most economically important clade in the genus. These crop species and their close relatives have been the focus of intensive research, but relationships among major lineages of the Potato clade remain poorly understood. In this study, we use sequences from the nuclear ITS and waxy (GBSSI), and plastid trnT–trnF and trnS–trnG to estimate a phylogeny and further explore relationships within the Potato clade. With increased sampling over past studies, the Potato clade emerges as a strongly supported clade and comprises 12–13 subclades which, for the most part, correspond to traditionally recognized sections. Solanum sect. Regmandra is sister to the rest of the lineages of the Potato clade which are, in turn, organized into two major subclades: (1) sections Anarrhichomenum, Articulatum, Basarthrum, Etuberosum, Juglandifolia, Lycopersicoides, Lycopersicon, and Petota, and (2) sections Herpystichum and Pteroidea. As in all other studies including these groups, sections Etuberosum, Juglandifolia, Lycopersicoides, Lycopersicon, and Petota form a strongly supported clade. Solanum oxycoccoides, a high-elevation species endemic to north-central Peru, was tentatively assigned to several groups within Solanum based on morphological evidence, but instead the species represents an independent lineage within the Potato clade, sister to the first major subclade. A key to the sections of the Potato clade is provided.

Chris Martine, a Ph.D. student of Greg Anderson and currently a professor at Bucknell, described a new species in the genus Solanum:

Martine, C. T., J. Cantley, E. Frawley, A. Butler & I. Jordan-Thaden. 2016. New functionally dioecious bush tomato from northwestern Australia, Solanum ossicruentum, may utilize “trample burr” dispersal. PhytoKeys 63: 19–29.

Noteworthy is that naming the new species involved a group of 150 middle school students. Several of the specimens referred to his paper are deposited in the BRC herbarium. The paper is:

The abstract reads: A new Australian species of functionally dioecious bush tomato of Solanum subgenus Leptostemonum is described. Solanum ossicruentum Martine & J.Cantley, sp. nov., is thought to be allied with members of the problematic “Dioicum Complex” lineage, but differs in its short silvery indumentum, long calyx lobes, larger stature, and an unusual fruit morphology that may represent “trample burr” seed dispersal. The species occurs in a range extending from the eastern Kimberley in Western Australia to far northwestern Northern Territory and has been recognized for decades as a variant of S. dioicum W.Fitzg. Specimens of this species were previously referred to by D.E. Symon and others as Solanum dioicum ‘Tanami.’ Ex situ crossing studies and SEM images of inaperturate pollen grains produced in morphologically hermaphrodite flowers indicate that this taxon is functionally dioecious. The scientific name was chosen with the help of 150 seventh grade life science students from Pennsylvania, USA.

Calyptophractus retusus, or the Greater fairy Armadillo, is known from five collections in North America, and one of these in housed in our mammal collection, an awareness acquired following of the release of the database of our holdings via VertNet.
For more info on this and related species see:
DELSUC, F., SUPERINA, M., TILAK, M.-K., DOUZERY, E. J. P. & HASSANIN, A. 2012. Molecular phylogenetics unveils the ancient evolutionary origins of the enigmatic fairy armadillos. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 62(2):673-680.