Kalbionora palaeotropica, a new genus and species from coastal forests in Southeast Asia and Australia (Malmideaceae, Ascomycota)

A new species and genus, Kalbionora palaeotropica, is described for a crustose lichen occurring in coastal forests in Thailand, Vietnam, and northeastern Australia. It is morphologically similar to Malmidea and Eugeniella, but differing in morphological and chemical characters. The single known species in the new genus contains atranorin, zeorin, the stictic acid chemosyndrome and chlorinated xanthones. Morphologically it is characterized by having asci of the Catillaria-type, a yellowish brown colour, a granulose epihymenium, dark brown hypothecium, hyaline, 1–3 transversely septate ascospores. Molecular data strongly support a phylogenetic position in Malmideaceae, sister to a clade including Malmidea, Savoronala and two species currently placed in Lecidea s. lat. (including L. cyrtidia and L. plebeja)

Morphological disparity in Cladoniaceae: The foliose genus Heterodea evolved from fruticose Cladia species (Lecanorales, lichenized Ascomycota)

Phylogenetic relationships of the genera Cladia and Heterodea were reconstructed using a combined dataset of nuclear ITS, nuclear LSU and mitochondrial SSU rDNA sequences. Based on different analyses (Bayesian approach, maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood), the ingroup (Cladia + Heterodea) is strongly supported as monophyletic. Pilophorus strumaticus has a well supported sister-group relationship to the ingroup and together they form a sister group with a well-supported clade, which includes Metus conglomeratus and Pycnotheliapapillaria. The Shimodaira-Hasegawa test and the ELW test significantly rejected monophyly of Cladia excluding Heterodea. Within Cladia three main clades can be distinguished which share morphological and chemical characters. The position of the foliose genus Heterodea within the fruticose Cladia is supported by anatomical and chemical characters. The species of clade II that includes two Cladia species and Heterodea share a similar type of upper cortex and two-layered medulla with an inner or lower medulla consisting of dark pigmented, thick-walled hyphae. Our phylogenetic estimate and the anatomical studies indicate that the foliose thallus of Heterodea originated from pseudopodetia of Cladia. It is discussed that the species currently classified in Cladia and Heterodea need to be placed in the same genus

Using Phylogenetic and Coalescent Methods to Understand the Species Diversity in the <i>Cladia aggregata</i> Complex (Ascomycota, Lecanorales)

The Cladia aggregata complex is one of the phenotypically most variable groups in lichenized fungi, making species determination difficult and resulting in different classifications accepting between one to eight species. Multi-locus DNA sequence data provide an avenue to test species delimitation scenarios using genealogical and coalescent methods, employing gene and species trees. Here we tested species delimitation in the complex using molecular data of four loci (nuITS and IGS rDNA, protein-coding GAPDH and Mcm-7), including 474 newly generated sequences. Using a combination of ML and Bayesian gene tree topologies, species tree inferences, coalescent-based species delimitation, and examination of phenotypic variation we assessed the circumscription of lineages. We propose that results from our analyses support a 12 species delimitation scenario, suggesting that there is a high level of species diversity in the complex. Morphological and chemical characters often do not characterize lineages but show some degree of plasticity within at least some of the clades. However, clades can often be characterized by a combination of several phenotypical characters. In contrast to the amount of homoplasy in the morphological characters, the data set exhibits some geographical patterns with putative species having distribution patterns, such as austral, Australasian or being endemic to Australia, New Zealand or Tasmania.</p

Ultrametric gene genealogy and clusters of specimens recognized as putative species by the single-threshold method of GMYC.

<p>Nodes of genetic clusters recognized as putative species are highlighted in red.</p

Likelihood scores for STEM analysis of species delimitation scenarios (k = number of parameters, high Δ lnL means high support for a given scenario).

<p>Likelihood scores for STEM analysis of species delimitation scenarios (k =  number of parameters, high Δ lnL means high support for a given scenario).</p

Morphological characteristics of the putative <i>Cladia</i> species identified using the multiple threshold method of GMYC.

<p>Habits of A)  =  Putative species 1a ( = <i>C. inflata</i>, Elix 39099 [CANB]); B)  =  Putative species 1b ( = <i>C. deformis</i>, HTL 19994d [F]); C)  =  Putative species 2a (Blanchon 003104a [F]); D)  =  Putative species 2b (HTL 19975e [F]); E)  =  Putative species 3 (HTL 19975f [F]); F)  =  Putative species 4 (SP 286 [RAMK]), G)  =  Putative species 5 (Elix 39100 [CANB]), H) Putative species 6 ( = <i>C. moniliformis</i>, HTL 19991h [F]); I)  =  Putative species 7a (HTL 19976h [F]); J)  =  Putative species 7b ( = <i>C. dumicola</i>, HTL 19993h [F]); K)  =  Putative species 8 (Elix 39131 [CANB]); L)  =  Putative species 9 (HTL 19989o [F]). Scale bars  = 10 mm.</p

Lineage-through-time (LTT) plot for the <i>Cladia aggregata</i> group, including (A) single threshold analysis and (B) multiple threshold analysis of GMYC.

<p>Lines are actual numbers of reconstructed lineages for the clade. Time is expressed as a proportion of the total time since the first cladogenesis event inferred for the taxon. The sharp increase in branching rate, corresponding to the transition from interspecies to intraspecies branching events, is indicated by the red line(s).</p

Ultrametric gene genealogy and clusters of specimens recognized as putative species by the multiple-threshold method of GMYC.

<p>Nodes of genetic clusters recognized as putative species are highlighted in red, light blue, violet and green.</p