Lecanora s.lat. (Ascomycota, Lecanoraceae) in Brazil: DNA Barcoding Coupled with Phenotype Characters Reveals Numerous Novel Species.

We sequenced over 200 recent specimens of Lecanora s.lat. from Brazil, delimiting 28 species in our material. Many seem to represent undescribed species, some of which being morphologically and chemically similar to each other or to already described species. Here, we present a phylogenetic analysis based on ITS, including our specimens and GenBank data. We describe nine new species. The purpose of the paper is to illustrate the diversity of the genus in Brazil, not to focus on segregate genera. However, we found that all Vainionora species cluster together and these will be treated separately. Other Lecanora species with dark hypothecium clustered in several different clades. Species with the morphology of Lecanora caesiorubella, in which currently several subspecies with different chemistry and distribution are recognized, fall apart in different, distantly related clades, so they cannot be regarded as subspecies but should be recognized at species level. A key is given for the Lecanora species from Brazil.

Taxonomic and Phylogenetic Reassessment of Pyrgidium (Mycocaliciales) and Investigation of Ascospore Morphology.

Mycocaliciales comprise non-lichenized either saprotrophic or lichenicolous fungi which occur in temperate and tropical regions. The mazaediate, saprotrophic and monospecific genus, Pyrgidium, is currently assigned to this order, yet the phylogenetic placement of the genus has remained uncertain due to the absence of molecular data. In order to investigate the systematic position of Pyrgidium, two specimens collected in Brazil and Thailand, respectively, were used to generate mtSSU, SSU, LSU and ITS sequences. However, given that most other representatives of this order only have LSU and ITS sequences available, the phylogenetic reconstruction was limited to these two markers. The phylogenetic analyses confirmed placement of the genus within Mycocaliciales, the genus possessing a sister group relationship with the lichenicolous genus Sphinctrina. Detailed morphological descriptions and illustrations are provided, including those for type specimens of the various synonyms subsumed under the hitherto only accepted species, Pyrgidium montellicum (Beltr.) Tibell. The ascospore morphology was investigated using compound and scanning electronic microscopy (SEM). Principal component analysis (PCA) was performed for the ascospore size using PC-ORD 7. The molecular data and re-examination of the type specimens support the monospecific nature of this genus.

Neoprotoparmelia gen. nov. and Maronina (Lecanorales, Protoparmelioideae): species description and generic delimitation using DNA barcodes and phenotypical characters.

Multilocus phylogenetic studies revealed a high level of cryptic diversity within the lichen-forming fungal genus Maronina (Protoparmelioideae, Parmeliaceae). Coalescent-based species delimitation suggested that most of the cryptic molecular lineages warranted recognition as separate species. Here we study the morphology and chemistry of these taxa and formally describe eight new species based on phenotypical and molecular characters. Further, we evaluate the use of ITS rDNA as a DNA barcode for identifying species in this genus. For the first time, we obtained an ITS sequence of Maroninaaustraliensis, the type species of the genus and showed that it is phylogenetically not closely related to species currently placed in Maronina or Protoparmelia. We assembled a dataset of 66 ITS sequences to assess the interspecies genetic distances amongst the twelve Maronina species using ITS as DNA barcode. We found that Maronina and Protoparmelia form a supported monophyletic group whereas M.australiensis is sister to both. We therefore propose a new genus Neoprotoparmelia to accommodate the tropical-subtropical species within Protoparmelioideae, with Neoprotoparmeliacorallifera as the type, N.amerisidiata, N.australisidiata, N.brasilisidiata, N.capensis, N.crassa, N.pauli, N.plurisporibadia and N.siamisidiata as new species and N.capitata, N.isidiata, N.multifera, N.orientalis and N.pulchra as new proposed combinations. We provide a key to Neoprotoparmelia and confirm the use of ITS for accurately identifying species in this group.

Going extinct before being discovered? New lichen fungi from a small fragment of the vanishing Atlantic Rainforest in Brazil / Indo extinto antes de ser descoberto? Novos fungos liquenizados da evanescente Mata Atlântica no Brasil

Abstract In the frame of an ongoing lichen inventory of Atlantic Rainforest remnants in Northeast Brazil, five new species of Graphidaceae were discovered in a small forest fragment, Mata do Cipó, in Sergipe state, the smallest state of Brazil and among those with the highest deforestation rate in the country. An additional new species had already been collected in Panama before and was now also found in the Mata do Cipó and is described here as well. In total, 40 species of Graphidaceae are reported for this remnant, including a large number of taxa indicative of well-preserved rainforest. The new species are: Fissurina atlantica T.A. Pereira, M. Cáceres & Lücking, sp. nov., Graphis subaltamirensis Passos, M. Cáceres & Lücking, sp. nov., Ocellularia cipoensis L.A. Santos, M. Cáceres & Lücking, sp. nov., O. sosma T.A. Pereira, M. Cáceres & Lücking, sp. nov., O. submordenii Lücking, sp. nov. (also known from Panama), and Pseudochapsa aptrootiana M. Cáceres, T.A. Pereira & Lücking, sp. nov. The findings are discussed in the context of the strong fragmentation of the Atlantic Rainforest, with individual remnants apparently serving as refugia for residual populations of rare species of lichen fungi that were more widely distributed in the past, but currently seem to occur only in isolated fragments.

Resumo No âmbito de um inventário atual de liquens dos remanescentes da Mata Atlântica, no Nordeste do Brasil, cinco espécies novas de Graphidaceae foram descobertas em um pequeno fragmento florestal, Mata do Cipó, no estado de Sergipe, o menor estado do Brasil, o qual está entre aqueles com maior taxa de desmatamento no país. Uma nova espécie adicional já havia sido coletada no Panamá, anteriormente, e agora também foi encontrada na Mata do Cipó, e está sendo descrita aqui também. No total, 40 espécies de Graphidaceae são relatadas para este remanescente, incluindo um grande número de táxons indicadores de floresta bem preservada. As novas espécies são: Fissurina atlantica T.A. Pereira, M. Cáceres & Lücking, sp. nov., Graphis subaltamirensis Passos, M. Cáceres & Lücking, sp.nov., Ocellularia cipoensis L.A. Santos, M. Cáceres & Lücking, sp. nov., O. sosma T.A. Pereira, M. Cáceres & Lücking, sp. nov., O. submordenii Lücking, sp. nov. (também conhecido do Panamá), e Pseudochapsa aptrootiana M. Cáceres, T.A. Pereira & Lücking, sp. nov. Os achados são discutidos no contexto da forte fragmentação da Mata Atlântica, com remanescentes aparentemente servindo de refúgio para populações residuais de espécies raras de fungos liquenizados que, provavelmente, tiveram uma distribuição mais amplia no passado, mas que atualmente parecem ocorrer apenas em fragmentos isolados.

Coalescent-based species delimitation approach uncovers high cryptic diversity in the cosmopolitan lichen-forming fungal genus Protoparmelia (Lecanorales, Ascomycota).

Species recognition in lichen-forming fungi has been a challenge because of unsettled species concepts, few taxonomically relevant traits, and limitations of traditionally used morphological and chemical characters for identifying closely related species. Here we analyze species diversity in the cosmopolitan genus Protoparmelia s.l. The ~25 described species in this group occur across diverse habitats from the boreal-arctic/alpine to the tropics, but their relationship to each other remains unexplored. In this study, we inferred the phylogeny of 18 species currently assigned to this genus based on 160 specimens and six markers: mtSSU, nuLSU, ITS, RPB1, MCM7, and TSR1. We assessed the circumscription of species-level lineages in Protoparmelia s. str. using two coalescent-based species delimitation methods--BP&P and spedeSTEM. Our results suggest the presence of a tropical and an extra-tropical lineage, and eleven previously unrecognized distinct species-level lineages in Protoparmelia s. str. Several cryptic lineages were discovered as compared to phenotype-based species delimitation. Many of the putative species are supported by geographic evidence.