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Australian Systematic Botany Australian Systematic Botany Society
Taxonomy, biogeography and evolution of plants
RESEARCH ARTICLE

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

H. Thorsten Lumbsch A E , Armin Mangold A B , María P. Martín C and John A. Elix D
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Department of Botany, The Field Museum, 1400 S. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605, USA.

B Universität Duisburg-Essen, Botanisches Institut, Universitätsstraße 5, 45117 Essen, Germany.

C Department of Mycology, Real Jardín Botánico, CSIC, Plaza de Murillo 2, 28014 Madrid, Spain.

D Department of Chemistry, Building 33, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia.

E Corresponding author. Email: tlumbsch@fieldmuseum.org

This paper is dedicated to our colleague and friend Ana Crespo de las Casas (Madrid), on the occasion of her 60th birthday.

Australian Systematic Botany 21(3) 217-227 https://doi.org/10.1071/SB07049
Submitted: 31 December 2007  Accepted: 5 May 2008   Published: 20 August 2008

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.


Acknowledgements

This study was supported financially by a NSF grant (DEB-0516116) to The Field Museum (PI: HTL), a grant from Australian Biological Researches Study (ABRS) to HTL and JAE, and a SYNTHESYS grant of the EU to AM (ES-TAF 691). Newly obtained DNA sequences were generated in the Pritzker Laboratory for Molecular Systematics and Evolution at the Field Museum and at the Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid. Fabian Ernemann (Chicago) is thanked for performing some of the work in the molecular laboratory. The curators of cited herbaria and private collectors are thanked for sending material on loan for examination.


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