Canoparmelia texana (Parmeliaceae, Ascomycota) consists of two independent lineages

Recent studies have demonstrated that species boundaries among the lichen-forming fungi are in need of revision with the discovery of cryptic species in numerous clades, especially in parmelioid lichens. Here we focus on addressing the species boundaries in Canoparmelia texana, a sorediate species with a pantropical distribution that extends into temperate regions. We extracted DNA sequences of the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer region (ITS), large subunit (nuLSU) and mitochondrial small subunit (mtSSU) from samples mostly collected in Kenya, and analyzed them in a phylogenetic framework. We illustrate that our samples of the species as currently circumscribed do not form a monophyletic group but fall into two distinct clades, with the apotheciate C. nairobiensis nested within. Both of the discovered lineages have a wide distributional range and are common in Kenya, and Parmelia albaniensis C. W. Dodge is resurrected to accommodate one of the clades; consequently a new combination, Canoparmelia albaniensis (C. W. Dodge) Divakar & Kirika comb. nov., is proposed.

Automated summary

Recent studies have found cryptic species in lichen-forming fungi, especially in parmelioid lichens. This study focuses on Canoparmelia texana, a sorediate species, and finds that it actually consists of two distinct lineages.