Abstract
Molecular analyses of the recently described Xanthoria polessica collected from the type locality and of the Australian species X. coomae were used to determine whether these taxa are distinct species or fall within the wide phenotypic variation of the well-known and cosmopolitan X. parietina. Our results clearly indicate that both taxa should be considered as synonyms of X. parietina since the infraspecific morphological range is accommodated by the observed variation in the thallus and lobe size, their color, position of apothecia, the shape of ascospores, and width of ascospore septum.
Highlights
The well-known lichen genus Xanthoria is currently represented by at least nine species, namely X. aureola, X. calcicola, X. ibizaensis, X. mediterranea, X. monofoliosa, X. parietina, X. resendei, X. steineri and X. stiligera (Arup et al 2013; Kondratyuk et al 2020), but there are many unresolved names and the taxonomy of the genus is in need of molecular evaluation
We focused on the species X. polessica and X. coomae, the former described by Kondratyuk et al (2013) based on an old herbarium specimen from 1967 stored in MSK herbarium in Minsk
X. polessica and X. coomae represent small forms of X. parietina differing in a few additional characters
Summary
The well-known lichen genus Xanthoria is currently represented by at least nine species, namely X. aureola, X. calcicola, X. ibizaensis, X. mediterranea, X. monofoliosa, X. parietina, X. resendei, X. steineri and X. stiligera (Arup et al 2013; Kondratyuk et al 2020), but there are many unresolved names and the taxonomy of the genus is in need of molecular evaluation. Two new species were described in this genus, namely X. polessica and X. juniperina (Kondratyuk et al 2013), but their descriptions were based only on morphological characters and were never supported by molecular data. Phylogenetic analyses by Arup et al (2013) indicated that the Australian species X. coomae (Kondratyuk et al 2007) probably belongs to X. parietina. We focused on the species X. polessica and X. coomae, the former described by Kondratyuk et al (2013) based on an old herbarium specimen from 1967 stored in MSK herbarium in Minsk. Fieldwork conducted by the second author (PB) at the well-preserved type locality yielded fresh material of X. polessica, allowing us to
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