The lichenized genus Cora (Basidiomycota: Hygrophoraceae) in Mexico: high species richness, multiple colonization events, and high endemism

In a continued effort to catalog the numerous phylogenetically detected and predicted species of Cora in the Americas, we focus here on the diversity of the genus in Mexico and the phylogenetic relationships of the taxa present in this area. Based on previous results and new collections, 12 taxa are recognized in Mexico, including eight new species and one new subspecies. The 12 taxa form 11 unrelated lineages within the genus, indicating multiple independent colonization from Central and South America. While the new subspecies is nested within a species known from the northern Andes in South America, the other species are all putative endemics for Mexico, resulting in endemism of 92% at species level and 100% at taxon level. Considering the rather narrow area of origin of the sequenced specimens in southeastern Mexico and the previously documented range of Cora including the northwestern part of the country, plus the underlying topography, we predict that the 12 species and subspecies now known represent only about 20% of the total richness of Cora in the country, and that many more endemic lineages are to be found in the western and northwestern parts (Sierra Madre Occidental). The new taxa from Mexico formally introduced in this study are Cora benitoana sp. nov., with a strongly projecting, cyphelloid hymenophore; C. buapana sp. nov., with elongate, finger-like and partly branched appendages on the lower medullary hyphae; C . dewisanti subsp. mexicana subsp. nov., with a marginally protruding hymenophore; C. guzmaniana sp. nov., with a partly setose lobe surface; C. ixtlanensis sp. nov., a phenotypically cryptic species similar but unrelated to C. terrestris ; C. lawreyana sp. nov., with globose hyphal appendages; C. marusae sp. nov., a phenotypically cryptic species similar but unrelated to C. comaltepeca ; C. totonacorum sp. nov., a phenotypically cryptic species similar but phylogenetically distant to C. davidia ; and C. zapotecorum sp. nov., with a very thinly pilose lobe surface.