Molecular systematics of lecideoid lichens - etreme polyphyly and a mess of cryptic species

Mika Bendiksby (Oslo): The project ”Mapping of lecideoid lichens in Norway”, funded by The Norwegian Biodiversity Information Centre (Artsdatabanken), aims to assess generic- and species delimiation within selected groups of lecideoid lichens. I will present results from our molecular systematic work on selected lecideoid genera. We use the fungal barcode region, nrITS, to assess species delimitation, and we use more conserved regions of nuclear and mitochondrial ribosomal DNA to assess generic delimitation and phylogenetic placement within the lichen-tree-of-life. Our molecular phylogenetic results depict both extreme polyphyly and a mess of cryptic species in lecideoid lichens — a picture sometimes indicated, but not confirmed, by non-molecular investigations. Hypocenomyce is highly polyphyletic as currently circumscirbed, and several genera contain a high number of cryptic species. In fact, cryptic species seems to be the rule more than the exception, calling for continued molecular work in order to obtain a classification that reflects evolutinary relationships.