Austroparmelina, a new Australasian lineage in parmelioid lichens (Parmeliaceae, Ascomycota)

Ana Crespo*, Zuzana Ferencova, Sergio Pérez-Ortega, John A. Elix, Pradeep K. Divakar

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    42 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Parmelioid lichens form the largest monophyletic group within the Parmeliaceae, a family distributed worldwide. The genus Parmelina was described by Hale (1976a) accommodating species from both hemispheres. We have employed parsimony, Bayesian and maximum likelihood analyses of a combined data set of nu ITS, LSU and mt SSU rDNA sequences to (1) test the monophyly of Parmelina and (2) to elucidate the generic status and phylogenetic position of the Australasian species. Twenty-one new sequences were generated in this study. Our results provide evidence that Parmelina is polyphyletic and the species fall into two major well-supported groups (Groups I and II). The Australasian species of Parmelina and two species of Canoparmelia (C. pruinata and C. macrospora) form Group I, which is nested within the parmotremoid genera of Parmeliaceae, Parmelina species from the northern hemisphere including those from western North America and the Mediterranean basin form a monophyletic group (Group II), which is sister to the East Asian temperate genus Myelochroa. Morphological and chemical features were reevaluated considering this observed phylogeny. Some morphological features like lobe morphology, several traits in the excipulum and geography are useful in characterizing the monophyletic lineage of the Australasian Parmelina/Canoparmelina species. This lineage is described as the new genus Austroparmelina. Thirteen new combinations in the new genus are proposed.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)209-221
    Number of pages13
    JournalSystematics and Biodiversity
    Volume8
    Issue number2
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2010

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