Data from: Coalescent-based species delimitation approach uncovers high cryptic diversity in the cosmopolitan lichen-forming fungal genus Protoparmelia (Lecanorales, Ascomycota)

Species recognition in lichen-forming fungi has been a challenge because of unsettled species concepts, few taxonomically relevant traits, and limitations of traditionally used morphological and chemical characters for identifying closely related species. Here we analyze species diversity in the cosmopolitan genus Protoparmelia s.l. The ~25 described species in this group occur across diverse habitats from the boreal -arctic/alpine to the tropics, but their relationship to each other remains unexplored. In this study, we inferred the phylogeny of 18 species currently assigned to this genus based on 160 specimens and six markers: mtSSU, nuLSU, ITS, RPB1, MCM7, and TSR1. We assessed the circumscription of species-level lineages in Protoparmelia s. str. using two coalescent-based species delimitation methods – BP&P and spedeSTEM. Our results suggest the presence of a tropical and an extra-tropical lineage, and eleven previously unrecognized distinct species-level lineages in Protoparmelia s. str. Several cryptic lineages were discovered as compared to phenotype-based species delimitation. Many of the putative species are supported by geographic evidence.地衣型真菌的物种识别一直是分类学研究的难点，原因在于物种概念尚未厘清、可供分类学研究的性状稀缺，且传统用于鉴定近缘物种的形态与化学特征存在局限性。本研究针对泛全球分布的广义原盘衣属（Protoparmelia s.l.）开展物种多样性分析。该类群已描述的约25个物种广泛分布于从寒带-北极/高山到热带的多样生境中，但各物种间的演化关系至今尚未得到探索。本研究基于160份标本及6个分子标记：mtSSU、nuLSU、ITS、RPB1、MCM7及TSR1，对当前归属于该属的18个物种进行了系统发育推演。本研究采用两种基于溯祖理论的物种界定方法——BP&P与spedeSTEM，对狭义原盘衣属（Protoparmelia s. str.）的物种水平支系界定范围进行了评估。研究结果显示，狭义原盘衣属中存在热带与非热带两大支系，以及11个此前未被发现的独立物种水平支系。相较于基于表型的物种界定方法，本研究发现了多个隐存支系。多数推定物种均得到地理分布证据的支持。