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学界面临的难题，其成因包括物种概念尚未明晰、分类学相关性状稀缺，以及传统使用的形态与化学特征在近缘物种鉴定中存在局限。本研究针对广布的广义原叶衣属（Protoparmelia s.l.）的物种多样性展开分析。该类群目前已描述的约25个物种，分布范围涵盖从寒带-北极/高山到热带的多样生境，但物种间的系统演化关系仍未被阐明。本研究基于160份标本与6个分子标记——mtSSU、nuLSU、ITS、RPB1、MCM7及TSR1，对当前划归该属的18个物种进行了系统发育推断。本研究采用两种基于溯祖理论的物种界定方法——BP&P与spedeSTEM，对狭义原叶衣属（Protoparmelia s.str.）的物种水平支系范围进行了评估。研究结果显示，狭义原叶衣属内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。