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. 2023 Mar 28;9(4):415.
doi: 10.3390/jof9040415.

Lecanora s.lat. (Ascomycota, Lecanoraceae) in Brazil: DNA Barcoding Coupled with Phenotype Characters Reveals Numerous Novel Species

Lidiane Alves Dos Santos  1 , André Aptroot  2 , Robert Lücking  3 , Marcela Eugenia da Silva Cáceres  4
Affiliations

Lecanora s.lat. (Ascomycota, Lecanoraceae) in Brazil: DNA Barcoding Coupled with Phenotype Characters Reveals Numerous Novel Species

Lidiane Alves Dos Santos et al. J Fungi (Basel). .

Abstract

We sequenced over 200 recent specimens of Lecanora s.lat. from Brazil, delimiting 28 species in our material. Many seem to represent undescribed species, some of which being morphologically and chemically similar to each other or to already described species. Here, we present a phylogenetic analysis based on ITS, including our specimens and GenBank data. We describe nine new species. The purpose of the paper is to illustrate the diversity of the genus in Brazil, not to focus on segregate genera. However, we found that all Vainionora species cluster together and these will be treated separately. Other Lecanora species with dark hypothecium clustered in several different clades. Species with the morphology of Lecanora caesiorubella, in which currently several subspecies with different chemistry and distribution are recognized, fall apart in different, distantly related clades, so they cannot be regarded as subspecies but should be recognized at species level. A key is given for the Lecanora species from Brazil.

Keywords: Lecanoraceae; South America; chemistry; cryptic species; delimitation.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Best-scoring ML tree based on the analysis of ITS sequence data. Bootstrap support values are given above the branches. The new sequences generated in this study are indicated in bold and new Lecanora species is highlighted.
Figure 1
Figure 1
Best-scoring ML tree based on the analysis of ITS sequence data. Bootstrap support values are given above the branches. The new sequences generated in this study are indicated in bold and new Lecanora species is highlighted.
Figure 1
Figure 1
Best-scoring ML tree based on the analysis of ITS sequence data. Bootstrap support values are given above the branches. The new sequences generated in this study are indicated in bold and new Lecanora species is highlighted.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Lecanora flavocaesia sp. nov. (A) Thallus with ascomata (holotype ISE-46521a); (B) Apothecial section in water (holotype ISE-46521a); (C) Apothecial section after KOH treatment (holotype ISE-46521a). Scale bars: (A), 1 mm; (B,C), 100 μm.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Lecanora fluorosaxicola sp. nov. (A) Thallus with ascomata (holotype, ISE-54033); (B,C) Apothecial section after KOH treatment (holotype ISE-54033). Scale bars: (A), 1 mm; (B,C), 100 μm.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Lecanora glaucomodes. (A) Thallus with ascomata (ISE-46533); (B) Apothecial section in water (ISE-46533); (C) Apothecial section after KOH treatment (ISE-46533). Scale bars: (A), 1 mm; (B,C), 100 μm.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Lecanora irregularicrocea sp. nov. (A) Thallus with ascomata (holotype ISE-38135); (B) Apothecial section in water (holotype ISE-38135); (C) Apothecial section after KOH treatment (holotype ISE-38135). Scale bars: (A), 1 mm; (B,C), 100 μm.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Lecanora neohelva sp. nov. (A) Thallus with ascomata (holotype ISE-52342); (B) Apothecial section in water (holotype ISE-52342); (C) Apothecial section after KOH treatment (holotype ISE-52342). Scale bars: (A), 1 mm; (B,C), 100 μm.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Lecanora neomerrilli nom. nov. (A) Thallus with ascomata (ISE-38146); (B) Apothecial section after KOH treatment (holotype ISE-38146); (C) Thallus with ascomata (ISE-52228); (D) Apothecial section after KOH treatment (holotype ISE-52228). Scale bars: (A–C), 1 mm; (B–D), 100 μm.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Lecanora nigrilobulata sp. nov. (A) Thallus with ascomata (holotype ISE-52239); (B) Apothecial section in water (holotype ISE-52239); (C) Apothecial section after KOH treatment (holotype ISE-52239). Scale bars: (A), 1 mm; (B,C), 100 μm.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Lecanora notatictria sp. nov. (A) Thallus with ascomata (holotype ISE-46529); (B) Apothecial section in water (holotype ISE-46529). Scale bars: (A), 1 mm; (B), 100 μm.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Lecanora pallidachroa sp. nov. (A) Thallus with ascomata (holotype ISE-54332a); (B) Apothecial section in water (holotype ISE-54332a; (C) Apothecial section after KOH treatment (holotype ISE-54332a). Scale bars: (A), 1 mm; (B,C), 100 μm.
Figure 11
Figure 11
Lecanora parahelva sp. nov. (A) Thallus with ascomata (holotype ISE-54323); (B) Medulla UV+ greenish white (holotype ISE-54323); (C) Apothecial section in water (holotype ISE-54323); (D) Apothecial section after KOH treatment (holotype ISE-54323). Scale bars: (A,B), 1 mm; (C,D), 100 μm.
Figure 12
Figure 12
Lecanora saepiphila sp. nov. (A) Thallus with ascomata (holotype ISE-42612b); (B) Apothecial section in water (holotype ISE-42612b); (C) Apothecial section after KOH treatment (holotype ISE-42612b). Scale bars: (A), 1 mm; (B,C), 100 μm.
Figure 13
Figure 13
Lecanora xanthoverrucosa sp. nov. (A) Thallus with ascomata (holotype ISE-52394); (B) Apothecial section in water (holotype ISE-52394); (C) Apothecial section after KOH treatment (holotype ISE-52394). Scale bars: (A), 1 mm; (B,C), 100 μm.
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