﻿Infraspecific variation of some brown Parmeliae (in Poland) – a comparison of ITS rDNA and non-molecular characters

Jacek Urbaniak,Beata Guzow-Krzemińska,Katarzyna Szczepańska

doi:10.3897/mycokeys.85.70552

Abstract

Infraspecific variation of the ITS rDNA region of some brown Parmeliae occurring in Poland is studied and compared with non-molecular characters. Haplotype networks are used to illustrate the variability within the species. Both newly-produced sequences from Central Europe and from all over the world, downloaded from the GenBank, are used.The number of haplotypes found for each taxon ranged from five in Melaneliastygia to 12 in Melaneliahepatizon and Montaneliadisjuncta; however, their numbers correlate with the number of specimens tested. New haplotypes for Melaneliaagnata, M.hepatizon and Cetrariacommixta are found. Based on our 169-sample dataset, we could not infer any geographical correlation, either locally or world-wide. Many of the analysed haplotypes were widely distributed and the same haplotype was often shared between temperate and polar populations. A comparison of molecular, morphological, anatomical and chemical characters also shows no correlation.

Highlights

IntroductionThe brown Parmeliae (Esslinger 1977) have been an object of numerous studies (Guzow-Krzemińska and Węgrzyn 2003; Blanco et al 2005; Crespo et al 2010, 2011; Nelsen et al 2011; Divakar et al 2012; Thell et al 2012; Leavitt et al 2014, 2015) and, due to this exceptional attention, they are one of the best-studied assemblages in the family Parmeliaceae
Our sampling focused on saxicolous representatives of the Parmeliaceae family occurring in Poland, with brown, foliose thalli, such as Cetraria commixta, Melanelia agnata, M. hepatizon, M. stygia, Montanelia disjuncta and M. sorediata
The RAxML tree did not contradict the Bayesian trees topologies for the stronglysupported branches and only the latter is shown with posterior probabilities

Summary

Introduction

The brown Parmeliae (Esslinger 1977) have been an object of numerous studies (Guzow-Krzemińska and Węgrzyn 2003; Blanco et al 2005; Crespo et al 2010, 2011; Nelsen et al 2011; Divakar et al 2012; Thell et al 2012; Leavitt et al 2014, 2015) and, due to this exceptional attention, they are one of the best-studied assemblages in the family Parmeliaceae These lichens are a polyphyletic group possessing foliose, a dark to medium brown thallus and usually lacking atranorin or usnic acid in the cortex (Esslinger 1977; Blanco et al 2004). Due to the historical taxonomic approach (Thell 1995; Rico et al 2005) and the similarity in the morphological and anatomical features of thalli, Cetraria commixta is referred to this group

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