Mitochondrial Ribosomal DNA Research Articles

First Molecular Identification and Clinical Presentation of Crenosomosis in a Dog from Slovakia

PurposeCrenosoma vulpis (Dujardin,1845) is a lungworm which has spread worldwide in canines and is associated with upper respiratory infections. In a majority of cases, the infections are accompanied with chronic cough. Diagnosis of lungworms is often underdiagnosed and can be misinterpreted as other respiratory diseases.MethodsThe Small Animal Clinic of the University Veterinary Hospital admitted an 11-month-old dog presented with persistent cough associated with difficulty in breathing and even asphyxia. Based on clinical symptoms, the patient underwent radiological and bronchoscopic examination. Bronchoscopy revealed the presence of lungworms obturating the branches of the tracheobronchial tree. Larvae were collected by bronchoscopic lavage and subjected to parasitological and molecular examination.ResultsMicroscopic detection and morphological identification of the worms removed during the bronchoscopy confirmed the presence of female adult worms. The subsequent molecular characterisation of the mitochondrial (cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene (cox1) and 12S ribosomal DNA (rDNA)), nuclear (18S rDNA) genes, as well as the analysis of the second internal transcribed spacer (ITS-2) region of the ribosomal DNA, confirmed the Crenosoma vulpis species. Faecal samples were processed using the Baermann method, which confirmed the presence of the larval stage 1 of C. vulpis. The therapy with fenbendazole at a dose of 50 mg/kg of live weight once daily for the period of 7 days was initiated for the patient.ConclusionThis paper presents the first molecularly confirmed clinical case of a Crenosoma vulpis infection in an 11-month-old female dog of the Miniature Schnauzer breed in Slovakia.

A New Species and a New Record of Byssoid Arthoniaceae (Lichenized Ascomycota) from Southern China

This paper illustrates two species in the lichen-forming family Arthoniaceae from southern China, including a new species of Herpothallon, H. fibrosum L.L. Liu & Lu L. Zhang and a new record of Cryptothecia, C. striata G. Thor for China. Herpothallon fibrosum has fluffy, cylindrical pseudoisidia, like a bundle of fiber, and psoromic acid and confluentic acid are present. Furthermore, the new record of Cryptothecia striata has been identified by morphological, anatomical, chemical, and molecular studies. The systematic position of the two species was clarified by the molecular sequence data from the small subunit of the mitochondrial ribosomal DNA (mtSSU). Detailed taxonomic descriptions, chemical characters, comparisons, and discussion of the characteristics of similar species are provided for the two species; the relationship between Cryptothecia and Herpothallon is also discussed here.

Species delimitation and phylogenetic relationships of the Prionospio complex (Annelida, Spionidae) in the Northeast Atlantic

AbstractThe Prionospio complex comprises the most diverse and complex group within the polychaete family Spionidae. The phylogenetic relationships within the group are still poorly understood, and the generic breakdown is unstable. In this study, we assessed the diversity, relationships, and distribution of species of the Prionospio complex occurring in Norwegian waters. We analysed mitochondrial genomes and nuclear ribosomal DNA assembled via whole‐genome shotgun sequencing, and Sanger sequenced fragments of COI and 16S rDNA. Sanger sequencing proved challenging in the group, where COI was only amplified successfully in 14% of specimens. By molecular species delimitation algorithms, our study revealed the presence of four well‐supported but currently undescribed species of Prionospio in Norwegian waters. We observed a novel distribution pattern of polychaetes in coastal waters, where certain species demonstrated distribution ranges spanning over 7000 km. Such wide distribution parallels patterns of deep‐sea Prionospio species, suggesting that factors beyond recent anthropogenic translocations are involved. Our analysis of 38 mitochondrial genomes and ribosomal nuclear DNA enabled us to hypothesise on the phylogenetic relationships of 14 species of the Prionospio complex. The analysis suggested that two characters previously used to designate genera: the beginning of the branchiae from chaetiger 3 and the presence of pinnules on the branchiae, might have evolved more than one time within the complex. We return Aurospio banyulensis to the genus Prionospio according to the diagnosis of Aurospio resulting tree where this species was nested among Prionospio species. Our findings provide new insights into the diversity and distribution patterns of Prionospio species and contribute to a better understanding of marine benthic biodiversity and the importance of taxonomic accuracy in conservation and management practices.

Non-lethal detection of Eubothrium crassum (Cestoda) in farmed Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar, using anal swabs and real-time PCR.

Detection of intestinal parasites in fish typically requires autopsy, resulting in the sacrifice of the fish. Here, we describe a non-lethal method for detecting the tapeworm Eubothrium crassum in fish using anal swabs and real-time PCR detection. Two assays were developed to detect cytochrome oxidase I (COI) mitochondrial DNA and 18S ribosomal DNA sequences of E. crassum, respectively. The assays were tested on swab samples from confirmed pathogen free Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) and on samples from farmed Atlantic salmon, where the presence and intensity of parasites had been established through autopsy. The COI assay was shown to be specific to E. crassum, while the 18S assay also amplified the closely related E. salvelini, a species infecting Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus L.) in freshwater. The COI assay detected E. crassum in all field samples regardless of parasite load while the 18S assay failed to detect the parasite in two samples. The results thus demonstrates that this non-lethal approach can effectively detect E. crassum and can be a valuable tool in assessing the prevalence of infection in farmed salmon, aiding in treatment decisions and evaluating treatment effectiveness.

Canine piroplasmids: Molecular detection and laboratory characterization in dogs from Brasilia, Brazil, with the first molecular evidence of dog exposure to a novel opossum-associated Babesia sp.

Canine piroplasmid infections can be caused by Babesia spp., Theileria spp. and Rangelia vitalii. In Brazil, canine babesiosis caused by Babesia vogeli is endemic and reported throughout the country. On the other hand, Rangeliosis caused by R. vitalii has only been described so far in the South and Southeast regions. Despite that, studies analyzing the laboratory and molecular characterization of these hemoprotozoa are still scarce. To investigate the occurrence, the laboratory features, the molecular characterization, and the diversity of piroplasmids from Midwestern Brazil, a survey was performed using blood samples obtained from 276 domestic dogs from Brasília, Federal District, Midwestern Brazil. A broad-range quantitative PCR (qPCR) targeting the mitochondrial large subunit ribosomal DNA (LSU4) was used to detect piroplasmid DNA. The overall molecular occurrence of piroplasmids was 11.2% (31/276), with 9.7% (27/276) of the sequences identified as Babesia vogeli (98–100% identity to B. vogeli isolate from the USA). Based on a partial 18S rRNA sequence pairwise alignment (-250 bp), 1.4% (4/276) of the sequences showed only 76.8% identity with B. vogeli but 100% identity with opossum-associated Babesia sp. (MW290046–53). These findings suggest the exposure of dogs from Brazil to a recently described Babesia sp. isolated from white-eared opossum. None of the analyzed dogs was positive for Theileria spp. or R. vitalii. Subsequently, all positive sequences were submitted to three additional PCR assays based on the 18S rRNA, cox-1, and cytb genes, aiming at performing a haplotype network analysis. Haplotype network using cox-1 sequences showed the presence of six different haplotypes of B. vogeli; one of them was shared with isolates from Brazil, the USA, and India. When including animals co-infected with other vector-borne diseases, piroplasmid-positive dogs had 2.3 times higher chance of having thrombocytopenia than the negative ones. The molecular results demonstrated that the compared Babesia vogeli sequences showed a low variability as well as evidence of exposure to a putative novel opossum-associated Babesia sp. in dogs from Midwestern Brazil.

(2944) Proposal to reject the name Narcissus flavus (Amaryllidaceae)

(2944) Proposal to reject the name <i>Narcissus flavus</i> (<i>Amaryllidaceae</i>)

Abstract 1694: Do post-translational modifications of mitochondrial RNA polymerase and ribosomal protein L12 control mitochondrial DNA transcription?

Abstract 1694: Do post-translational modifications of mitochondrial RNA polymerase and ribosomal protein L12 control mitochondrial DNA transcription?

Aonchotheca (Nematoda: Capillariidae) is validated as a separated genus from Capillaria by both mitochondrial and nuclear ribosomal DNA

BackgroundThe family Capillariidae is a group of thread-like nematodes of 27 genera and over 300 species that infect a great variety of hosts including humans. Among these, some taxa such as the genus Aonchotheca have remained controversial regarding their systematic status for decades. The aim of the current study was to verify Aonchotheca’s systemic status and to further determine whether it is a distinct genus from Capillaria using molecular and phylogenetic analyses.ResultsWe sequenced the mitochondrial (mt) genome and nuclear small subunit (18S) rRNA gene of Aonchotheca putorii, a representative species of the genus, and investigated its systematic status in Trichinellida using maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference. The differences in amino acid sequences of 13 protein-coding genes were 12.69–67.35% among Aonchotheca, Capillaria, Eucoleus, and Pseudocapillaria with cox1 (12.69%) and atp8 (67.35%) as the most and the least conserved gene, respectively, and the difference of two mt rRNAs was 18.61–34.15%. Phylogenetic analyses of the complete mt genome and 18S rRNAs unequivocally showed that Aonchotheca was a distinct genus from Capillaria.ConclusionsLarge difference exists among Aonchotheca, Capillaria, Eucoleus, and Pseudocapillarias. Aonchotheca putorii is the first species in the genus Aonchotheca for which a complete mitogenome has been sequenced. These data are useful for phylogenetics, systematics and the evolution of Capillariidae.Graphical

DNA Barcoding and Phylogeny of Acari Species Based on ITS and COI Markers

Acari harbor numerous minute species of agricultural economic importance, mainly Tetranychidae and Phytoseiidae. Great efforts have been established by means of recovering morphological, molecular, and phylogenetic traits for species identification. Traditional identification still relies on external diagnostic characters, which are limited and usually exhibit large phenotypic plasticity within the species, rendering them useless for species delimitation and identification. We decided to increase the number of sequences of the Acari mitochondrial COI (Cytochrome C oxidase I) marker and ITS nuclear ribosomal DNA region for species identification in Tetranychidae and Phytoseiidae. The molecular data allow us to establish species boundaries and phylogenetic relationships among several clades of Acari, mainly Tetranychidae and Phytoseiidae. Sequence comparisons between complete COI and the Acari mitochondrial COI, ITS1-5,8S-ITS2, and ITS2 among all Acari sequences have demonstrated that the selected regions, even small, gave enough informative positions for both species’ identification and phylogenetic studies. Analyses of both DNA regions have unveiled their use as species identification characters, with special emphasis on Acari mitochondrial COI for Tetranychidae and Phytoseiidae species in comparison with the Folmer fragment, which has been universally used as a barcode marker. We demonstrated that the Acari mitochondrial COI region is also a suitable marker to establish a barcode dataset for Acari identification. Our phylogenetic analyses are congruent with other recent works, showing that Acari is a monophyletic group, of which Astigmata, Ixodida, Mesostigmata, Oribatida, and Prostigmata are also monophyletic.

Mitochondrial genome recombination in somatic hybrids of Solanum commersonii and S. tuberosum

Interspecific somatic hybridization has been performed in potato breeding experiments to increase plant resistance against biotic and abiotic stress conditions. We analyzed the mitochondrial and plastid genomes and 45S nuclear ribosomal DNA (45S rDNA) for the cultivated potato (S. tuberosum, St), wild potato (S. commersonii, Sc), and their somatic hybrid (StSc). Complex genome components and structure, such as the hybrid form of 45S rDNA in StSc, unique plastome in Sc, and recombinant mitogenome were identified. However, the mitogenome exhibited dynamic multipartite structures in both species as well as in the somatic hybrid. In St, the mitogenome is 756,058 bp and is composed of five subgenomes ranging from 297,014 to 49,171 bp. In Sc, it is 552,103 bp long and is composed of two sub-genomes of 338,427 and 213,676 bp length. StSc has 447,645 bp long mitogenome with two subgenomes of length 398,439 and 49,206 bp. The mitogenome structure exhibited dynamic recombination mediated by tandem repeats; however, it contained highly conserved genes in the three species. Among the 35 protein-coding genes of the StSc mitogenome, 21 were identical for all the three species, and 12 and 2 were unique in Sc and St, respectively. The recombinant mitogenome might be derived from homologous recombination between both species during somatic hybrid development.

Phylogenomics of Porites from the Arabian Peninsula

The advent of high throughput sequencing technologies provides an opportunity to resolve phylogenetic relationships among closely related species. By incorporating hundreds to thousands of unlinked loci and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), phylogenomic analyses have a far greater potential to resolve species boundaries than approaches that rely on only a few markers. Scleractinian taxa have proved challenging to identify using traditional morphological approaches and many groups lack an adequate set of molecular markers to investigate their phylogenies. Here, we examine the potential of Restriction-site Associated DNA sequencing (RADseq) to investigate phylogenetic relationships and species limits within the scleractinian coral genus Porites. A total of 126 colonies were collected from 16 localities in the seas surrounding the Arabian Peninsula and ascribed to 12 nominal and two unknown species based on their morphology. Reference mapping was used to retrieve and compare nearly complete mitochondrial genomes, ribosomal DNA, and histone loci. De novo assembly and reference mapping to the P. lobata coral transcriptome were compared and used to obtain thousands of genome-wide loci and SNPs. A suite of species discovery methods (phylogenetic, ordination, and clustering analyses) and species delimitation approaches (coalescent-based, species tree, and Bayesian Factor delimitation) suggested the presence of eight molecular lineages, one of which included six morphospecies. Our phylogenomic approach provided a fully supported phylogeny of Porites from the Arabian Peninsula, suggesting the power of RADseq data to solve the species delineation problem in this speciose coral genus.

New 12S metabarcoding primers for enhanced Neotropical freshwater fish biodiversity assessment

The megadiverse Neotropical fish fauna lacks a comprehensive and reliable DNA reference database, which hampers precise species identification and DNA based biodiversity assessment in the region. Here, we developed a mitochondrial 12S ribosomal DNA reference database for 67 fish species, representing 54 genera, 25 families, and six major Neotropical orders. We aimed to develop mini-barcode markers (i.e. amplicons with less than 200 bp) suitable for DNA metabarcoding by evaluating the taxonomic resolution of full-length and mini-barcodes and to determine a threshold value for fish species delimitation using 12S. Evaluation of the target amplicons demonstrated that both full-length library (565 bp) and mini-barcodes (193 bp) contain enough taxonomic resolution to differentiate all 67 fish species. For species delimitation, interspecific genetic distance threshold values of 0.4% and 0.55% were defined using full-length and mini-barcodes, respectively. A custom reference database and specific mini-barcode markers are important assets for ecoregion scale DNA based biodiversity assessments (such as environmental DNA) that can help with the complex task of conserving the megadiverse Neotropical ichthyofauna.

Triplex real-time PCR assay for the authentication of camel-derived dairy and meat products

Authentication of dairy and meat products is important to ensure fair competition, consumer benefit, and food safety. The large difference in price between camel and cow milk may be an incentive to adulterate camel dairy products with cow-derived foodstuffs. However, no studies so far have used triplex real-time PCR with an endogenous control to identify camel and cow origins in dairy and meat products. In this study, we developed a triplex real-time PCR assay based on amplification of mitochondrial 12S ribosomal DNA for the authentication of camel-derived dairy and meat products. This method was applied to identify camel and cow DNA in milk, yogurt, cheese, milk powder, milk beverage, meat products, and mixtures with milk and meat. Concentrations as low as 1 to 5% and 0.1% camel milk and meat, respectively, were detected in the mixtures, and 1 to 5% and 0.1% cow milk and meat, respectively, were identified via this approach. The limits of detection were 0.005 to 0.0025 ng, 0.05 to 0.001 ng, 0.001 to 0.0005 ng, and 0.00025 to 0.0001 ng of DNA in camel milk, camel yogurt, commercial camel milk beverage, and camel meat, and from 0.0025 to 0.001 ng, 0.5 to 0.001 ng, 1 to 0.05 ng, 0.01 ng, 0.001 ng, 0.0005 to 0.00025 ng, 0.0005 to 0.00025 ng, and 0.005 ng of DNA from cow milk, yogurt, cheese, acidic whey, milk powder, beef, beef jerky, and beef sausage, respectively. Different dairy and meat samples of camel and cow origins had a range of authentication limits and limits of detection. The designed triplex real-time PCR assay was shown to be a specific, sensitive, and efficient technique for the identification of camel and cow DNA in foodstuffs.

Egg parasitoids of Arboridia apicalis (Nawa, 1913) (Hemiptera, Cicadellidae), a leafhopper pest of grapevines in Japan, with description of a new species of Anagrus Haliday, 1833 (Hymenoptera, Mymaridae)

Several species of egg parasitoids (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae and Trichogrammatidae) of the leafhopper pest of grapevines in Japan, Arboridia (Arboridia) apicalis (Nawa) (Hemiptera, Cicadellidae), were reared and identified for the first time. Using a combination of genetic and morphological evidence, Anagrus (Anagrus) arboridiae Triapitsyn & Adachi-Hagimori, sp. nov. (Mymaridae) is described and illustrated from Honshu Island (Shimane Prefecture) and Kyushu Island (Miyazaki Prefecture). It is shown to be different from Anagrus (Anagrus) japonicus Sahad and A. flaviapex Chiappini & Lin, to which it is most similar; the latter species was originally described from China and is newly recorded here from Okinawa Island, Japan. Mitochondrial and nuclear ribosomal DNA sequence data provide clear evidence for the separation of A. arboridiae from A. flaviapex, A. japonicus, and some other members of the Anagrus (Anagrus) atomus (L.) species group. Two other species of Anagrus Haliday, A. (Anagrus) avalae Soyka and A. atomus, are also identified in Japan from eggs of the leafhoppers Edwardsiana ishidae (Matsumura) and Eurhadina ? betularia Anufriev, respectively. An updated key to females of the Japanese species of Anagrus is given. Oligosita pallida Kryger (a new record for Japan), Oligosita sp., and an Aphelinoidea (Aphelinoidea) sp. (Trichogrammatidae) were the other, although much less abundant, apparent egg parasitoids of A. apicalis in Shimane Prefecture, mainly in non-organic vineyards.

A new isidiate saxicolous species ofPorina(Ascomycota,Ostropales,Porinaceae)

AbstractPorina collinaOrange, Palice &amp; Klepsland is described as new from siliceous rocks in the Czech Republic, Great Britain and Norway. The thallus produces isidioid propagules which resemble those inP. rosei,P. hibernicaandP. pseudohibernica, but which are more fragile and poorly-defined, and almost ecorticate; the perithecial wall is dark purplish brown and the ascospores are 3-septate. Sequences of the mitochondrial ribosomal DNA suggest that the new species belongs in thePorina byssophilaclade.

Two new species of Ooencyrtus (Hymenoptera, Encyrtidae), egg parasitoids of the bagrada bug Bagrada hilaris (Hemiptera, Pentatomidae), with taxonomic notes on Ooencyrtus telenomicida

In support of a biological control program in California, USA, against the bagrada bug,Bagrada hilaris(Burmeister) (Hemiptera, Pentatomidae), an invasive pest of Asian origin, colonies of two species ofOoencyrtusAshmead (Hymenoptera, Encyrtidae) are maintained usingB. hilariseggs as host. One of them,Ooencyrtus mirusTriapitsyn &amp;amp; Power,sp. nov., is of Pakistani origin. It displays natural preference for bagrada bug eggs and is being evaluated in quarantine as a candidate for classical biological control. The other,Ooencyrtus lucidusTriapitsyn &amp;amp; Ganjisaffar,sp. nov., appears to be native to California, and we believe it switched toB. hilarisfrom native pentatomid hosts. Both new species are described and illustrated, as is the Old World speciesOoencyrtus telenomicida(Vassiliev), for which a neotype is designated. The presented morphometric evidence as well as mitochondrial and nuclear ribosomal DNA sequence data separateOoencyrtus mirusfromO. telenomicida. A lectotype is designated forOoencyrtus californicusGirault from California, which is morphologically similar toO. lucidus.

Towards a rigorous species delimitation framework for scleractinian corals based on RAD sequencing: the case study of Leptastrea from the Indo-Pacific

Accurate delimitation of species and their relationships is a fundamental issue in evolutionary biology and taxonomy and provides essential implications for conservation management. Scleractinian corals are difficult to identify because of their ecophenotypic and geographic variation and their morphological plasticity. Furthermore, phylogenies based on traditional loci are often unresolved at the species level because of uninformative loci. Here, we attempted to resolve these issues and proposed a consistent species definition method for corals by applying the genome-wide technique Restriction-site Associated DNA sequencing (RADseq) to investigate phylogenetic relationships and species delimitation within the genus Leptastrea. We collected 77 colonies from nine localities of the Indo-Pacific and subjected them to genomic analyses. Based on de novo clustering, we obtained 44,162 SNPs (3701 loci) from the holobiont dataset and 62,728 SNPs (9573 loci) from the reads that map to coral transcriptome to reconstruct a robust phylogenetic hypothesis of the genus. Moreover, nearly complete mitochondrial genomes and ribosomal DNA arrays were retrieved by reference mapping. We combined concatenation-based phylogenetic analyses with coalescent-based species tree and species delimitation methods. Phylogenies suggest the presence of six distinct species, three corresponding to known taxa, namely Leptastrea bottae, Leptastrea inaequalis, Leptastrea transversa, one characterized by a remarkable skeletal variability encompassing the typical morphologies of Leptastrea purpurea and Leptastrea pruinosa, and two distinct and currently undescribed species. Therefore, based on the combination of genomic, morphological, morphometric, and distributional data, we herein described Leptastrea gibbosa sp. n. from the Pacific Ocean and Leptastrea magaloni sp. n. from the southwestern Indian Ocean and formally considered L. pruinosa as a junior synonym of L. purpurea. Notably, mitogenomes and rDNA yielded a concordant yet less resolved phylogeny reconstruction compared to the ones based on SNPs. This aspect demonstrates the strength and utility of RADseq technology for disentangling species boundaries in closely related species and in a challenging group such as scleractinian corals.

A taxonomic revision of the genus Conidiobolus (Ancylistaceae, Entomophthorales): four clades including three new genera.

The genus Conidiobolus is an important group in entomophthoroid fungi and is considered to be polyphyletic in recent molecular phylogenies. To re-evaluate and delimit this genus, multi-locus phylogenetic analyses were performed using the large and small subunits of nuclear ribosomal DNA (nucLSU and nucSSU), the small subunit of the mitochondrial ribosomal DNA (mtSSU) and the translation elongation factor 1-alpha (EF-1α). The results indicated that the Conidiobolus is not monophyletic, being grouped into a paraphyletic grade with four clades. Consequently, the well-known Conidiobolus is revised and three new genera Capillidium, Microconidiobolus and Neoconidiobolus are proposed along with one new record and 22 new combinations. In addition, the genus Basidiobolus is found to be basal to the other entomophthoroid taxa and the genus Batkoa locates in the Entomophthoraceae clade.

Evolutionary Trends in the Mitochondrial Genome of Archaeplastida: How Does the GC Bias Affect the Transition from Water to Land?

Among the most intriguing mysteries in the evolutionary biology of photosynthetic organisms are the genesis and consequences of the dramatic increase in the mitochondrial and nuclear genome sizes, together with the concomitant evolution of the three genetic compartments, particularly during the transition from water to land. To clarify the evolutionary trends in the mitochondrial genome of Archaeplastida, we analyzed the sequences from 37 complete genomes. Therefore, we utilized mitochondrial, plastidial and nuclear ribosomal DNA molecular markers on 100 species of Streptophyta for each subunit. Hierarchical models of sequence evolution were fitted to test the heterogeneity in the base composition. The best resulting phylogenies were used for reconstructing the ancestral Guanine-Cytosine (GC) content and equilibrium GC frequency (GC*) using non-homogeneous and non-stationary models fitted with a maximum likelihood approach. The mitochondrial genome length was strongly related to repetitive sequences across Archaeplastida evolution; however, the length seemed not to be linked to the other studied variables, as different lineages showed diverse evolutionary patterns. In contrast, Streptophyta exhibited a powerful positive relationship between the GC content, non-coding DNA, and repetitive sequences, while the evolution of Chlorophyta reflected a strong positive linear relationship between the genome length and the number of genes.

Emmanuelia, a new genus of lobarioid lichen-forming fungi (Ascomycota: Peltigerales): phylogeny and synopsis of accepted species

The former family Lobariaceae, now included in Peltigeraceae as subfamily Lobarioideae, has undergone substantial changes in its generic classification in recent years, based on phylogenetic inferences highlighting the polyphyly of the speciose genera Lobaria, Pseudocyphellaria and Sticta. Here we introduce the new genus Emmanuelia, named in honor of Prof. Emmanuël Sérusiaux for his extensive work on the Peltigerales. Emmanuelia currently comprises twelve species. It is superficially similar to the lobarioid genus Ricasolia, but differs by its apothecia, rimmed by overarching and often crenulate to lobulate margins, with the parathecium (proper excipulum) and the amphithecium (thalline excipulum formed by the thallus cortex) apically separated and of a different structure. Also, ascospore dimensions and shape differ between the two genera, with the ascospores of Emmanuelia being longer and narrower. Molecular phylogenetic analyses using DNA nucleotide sequences of the internal transcribed spacer region (ITS) and the small subunit of mitochondrial ribosomal DNA (mtSSU) confirm that Emmanuelia belongs to the Lobaria s.lat. clade and forms a monophyletic group sister to the lineage consisting of Dendriscosticta, Lobariella and Yoshimuriella. None of the available generic names of lobarioid lichens can be applied to this group, and consequently a new name is proposed for this new genus, which is typified with E. ravenelii comb. nov. Eleven other species are transferred to Emmanuelia: E. americana comb. nov., E. conformis comb. nov., E. cuprea comb. nov., E. elaeodes comb. nov., E. erosa comb. nov., E. excisa comb. nov., E. lobulifera comb. nov., E. ornata comb. nov., E. patinifera comb. nov., E. pseudolivacea comb. nov. and E. tenuis comb. nov. The genus is represented in North America by three species, including E. lobulifera, which is resurrected from synonymy with E. (Lobaria) tenuis, a South American species, and E. ornata, whose populations were previously treated under E. (Lobaria) ravenelii.