The relationships of Odontotrema (Odontotremataceae) and the resurrected Sphaeropezia (Stictidaceae)—new combinations and three new Sphaeropezia species

Abstract

Odontotremataceae is polyphyletic and constitutes two distantly related clades, the true Odontotremataceae and a segregate group within Stictidaceae including “Odontotrema” cassiopes, “O.” diffindens, lichenicolous “Odontotrema” species and “Bryodiscus” arctoalpinus. Sphaeropezia here is accepted as the name for this latter group. An updated phylogeny of the Stictidaceae based on mtSSU, nuLSU and the protein coding gene RPB2 is presented together with a taxonomic revision of Swedish taxa of Odontotrema and Sphaeropezia. Bryodiscus and Lethariicola are synonymized under Sphaeropezia, and three new Sphaeropezia species are described: the lignicolous S. capreae, the fungicolous S. lyckselensis and the lichenicolous S. mycoblasti. The new species are distinguished from other species by molecular and morphological characters, and substrate preferences. The new combinations Sphaeropezia arctoalpina, S. cassiopes, S. grimmiae, S. hepaticarum, S. melaneliae, S. ochrolechiae and S. thamnoliae are proposed. The morphology of these species was studied in detail. We further propose to combine the remaining lichenicolous Odontotrema species, exept O. stereocaulicola, in Sphaeropezia based on their close relationship to the studied lichenicolous taxa. These additional new combinations include Sphaeropezia bryoriae, S. cucularis, S. figulina, S. intermedia, S. japewiae, S. lecanorae, S. navarinoi, S. pertusariae, S. rhizocarpicola, S. santessonii, and S. sipei. A lectotype is designated for the name Odontotrema diffindens Nyl.

• Ascomycetes
• Bryodiscus
• Coccomycetella
• Lethariicola
• Odontotremataceae
• Ostropales
• Ostropomycetidae
• Stictidaceae
• taxonomy

Acknowledgments

We thank the staff at the Molecular Systematics Laboratory at the Swedish Museum of Natural History, who assisted with laboratory work. Paul Diederich is gratefully thanked for his support, helpful comments and for agreeing to include Sphaeropezia mycoblasti in this paper. Many thanks also to Javier Etayo and Zdeněk Palice, who provided specimens, and to Gerhard Prenner, who helped finalize the figures. Stefan Ericsson is thanked for providing working space for GG at the herbarium UME.

The Swedish Taxonomy Initiative (Svenska Artprojektet, administered by ArtDatabanken) and the Swedish Research Council (grants VR 621-2006-3760 and VR 621-2009-537) provided financial support.