The family Physciaceae in Fennoscandia: phylogeny inferred from ITS sequences

The internal transcribed spacers (ITS1 and ITS2), and the 5.8S region of the nuclear ribosomal DNA were sequenced for 52 specimens representing 35, mosdy foliose, taxa of the lichen family Physciaceae (Lecanorales). The sequences were phylogenetically analyzed using parsimony jackknifing. Xanthoria parietina and X. sorediata were chosen as outgroups. Because of the variable nature of the ITS regions parsimony jackknifing analyses were performed on different alignments. The analyses resulted in trees with several shared, well-supported groups. A consensus tree, summarizing all the trees from different alignments was also calculated. In that tree the family Physciaceae formed a monophyletic group. Some of the crustose species of Physciaceae (in the genera Amandinea, Buellia and Dimelaena) appeared as two sister groups to the rest of the family. In this latter group Physcia, Heterodermia speciosa and Mobergia calculiformis constituted the sister group to the remaining family, which included the genera Anaptychia, Hyperphyscia, Phaeorrhiza, Phaeophyscia, Physconia, and Rinodina. The genus Phaeophyscia was found to be monophyletic with 100% support. Anaptychia and Physconia, together with Phaeorrhiza nimbosa and Rinodina turfacea formed its sister group. Hyperphyscia adglutinata was found in a trichotomy with the other two groups.