Insight into the Cladonia convoluta-C. foliacea (Cladoniaceae, Ascomycota) complex and related species, revealed through morphological, biochemical and phylogenetic analyses

Species boundaries are often not easy to establish in lichens of the genus Cladonia, where each species displays a great morphological variability. Cladonia convoluta and C. foliacea are two commonly accepted, morphologically similar lichen taxa. Molecular (nuclear ITS rDNA, rpb2 partial gene, cox1 partial gene), chemical and morphological characters were used to elucidate the taxonomic rank of these taxa. Our analyses were carried out on material from several European countries. Other related species, viz. C. firma, C. cervicornis and C. pulvinata were also studied. Maximum Parsimony, Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian analyses were based on 71 ITS, 39 cox1 and 33 rpb2 sequences. Neither morphological characters nor phylogenetic analyses gave evidence to delimit two taxa in the C. convoluta/C. foliacea complex; however C. firma, C. cervicornis and C. pulvinata formed three distinct monophyletic groups.