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1 Institute of Plant Sciences, Karl-Franzens University Graz, Graz, Austria, 8010, Austria
2 Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures, Utrecht, The Netherlands
3 Institut für Botanik, Karl-Franzens-Universität, A-8010 Graz, Austria
As in other lichenized lineages, most members of Verrucariales form typical thallus morphologies, including crustose, squamulose, foliose and rarely subfruticose thalli. Some members occurring in humid habitats, however, evolved unusually delicate thallus morphologies, such as minute shell-like discs, microfilamentous cushions or brittle flakes. In this study we aim at elucidating the phylogenetic placement of such morphologically outstanding taxa. We included in our analyses Agonimia spp., Flakea papillata, Normandina spp., and Psoroglaena spp., and used a multilocus sequence data set of the Verrucariales (SSU rDNA, LSU rDNA, mtSSU, RPB1). The resulting hypothesis revealed the genus Normandina as a monophyletic group; Lauderlindsaya was confirmed as a synonym of Normandina. Normandina acroglypta is nested in N. pulchella. Psoroglaena abscondita does not cluster with other species of this genus (P. biatorella and P. stigonemoides), and is related to Verrucula and Placocarpus. Four species of Agonimia form a monophyletic group together with Norrlinia, whereas A. repleta represents its own clade. Apart from this latter relationship, the phylogenetic relationship of Flakea and Normandina with other lineages in Verrucariaceae remains elusive with our multilocus dataset. More sequence data of protein-coding loci are required to increase phylogenetic resolution because morphological evolution seems to be rather dynamic in Verrucariales.
Key words: Lauderlindsaya, Normandina, phylogeny, Psoroglaena, rDNA
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