Species recognition and phylogeny of Thelotrema species in Australia (Ostropales, Ascomycota)

H. Thorsten Lumbsch, Armin Mangold, María P. Martín, John A. Elix

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    25 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Species circumscriptions based on morphological data are difficult in crustose lichens with limited characters as they often show remarkable variability. An example is the genus Thelotrema s.str., a speciose genus of mostly tropical lichens. Morphological studies on Australian Thelotrema spp. were accompanied by a phylogenetic analysis of mt SSU rDNA sequence data of 19 species, including 25 newly obtained sequences. We performed maximum parsimony and Bayesian phylogenetic analyses of 50 samples, representing 25 species. Our results indicate that more species need to be accepted in Thelotrema than previously thought. Subtle morphological differences were found to be associated with independent lineages in the phylogenetic trees. Furthermore, monophyly of Thelotrema s.str. is strongly supported. On the basis of the corroboration of morphological evidence by molecular data, the new species Thelotrema capetribulense Mangold, T. crespoae Mangold, Lumbsch & Elix, T. oleosum Mangold, and T. pseudosubtile Mangold are described. The new combinations Chapsa phlyctidioides (Müll.Arg.) Mangold and Thelotrema defossum (Müll.Arg.) Mangold are proposed.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)217-227
    Number of pages11
    JournalAustralian Systematic Botany
    Volume21
    Issue number3
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2008

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Species recognition and phylogeny of Thelotrema species in Australia (Ostropales, Ascomycota)'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this