Abstract
Sibling speciation, the reproductive isolation of populations often accompanied by ecological but little or no morphological differentiation, is a common product of evolution. Although it may be widespread among the cryptogams, it is best documented from all groups of the animals andfrom the vascular plants. The ecological and biological characteristics of the major chemotypes into which many Linnean species of lichens are divided favor the interpretation of these chemotypes as sibling species rather than as components of traditional morphological species. For the lichens, examples are given of sympatric sibling speciation effected by the isolating mechanisms of a sharply telescoped environment, the bark of different trees growing together, tree bark and nearby boulders and adjacent soils of different types. An experimental approach in the lichens for determining the extent of gene flow in morphologically similar populations of mixed chemotypes is proposed.
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