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We discuss the taxonomy of three species of Bacidia occurring in insular Laurimacaronesia. Two of them, B. amylothelia (Vain.) Vain. and B. endoleucoides (Nyl.) Zahlbr., which were previously described from Angola and Madeira, respectively, are found here to belong in Bacidia s. str. (Ramalinaceae). Modern descriptions and illustrations are provided for the first time. Bacidia amylothelia is similar to B. areolata Gerasimova & A. Beck, B. campalea (Tuck.) S. Ekman & Kalb, B. fusconigrescens (Nyl.) Zahlbr., B. heteroloma (Vain.) Zahlbr., B. millegrana (Taylor) Zahlbr. and B. suffusa (Fr.) A. Schneid. and is reported here from the Canary Islands. Bacidia endoleucoides is most likely to be confused with B. absistens (Nyl.) Arnold, B. friesiana (Hepp) Körb., B. salazarensis B. de Lesd. and B. caesiovirens S. Ekman & Holien and was found to be widely distributed in the Canary Islands and Azores in addition to Madeira. The third species, Bacidia deludens S. Ekman, Tønsberg & van den Boom, is described here as new to science. Bacidia deludens is characterised by a greyish, crustose thallus with whitish soralia, pale apothecia with crystals in the hymenium and proper exciple, acicular ascospores with 3–19 septa, and the production of fumarprotocetraric acid as the consistently present major substance. It is described here from the Canary Islands and Madeira. Although conservatively treated here in Bacidia, we argue that it is likely to belong in the Malmideaceae. An identification key to all known species of Bacidia s. str. in insular Macaronesia is provided. publishedVersion

We have developed a reliable technique for extracting DNA from single microscopic fungal thalli, including efficient cell disruption and transfer of cell content for subsequent polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The technique was primarily developed for members of the ascomycete order Laboulbeniales, which are minute fungi with tough cell walls that are exceedingly difficult to disrupt with standard extraction techniques. Our method makes routine amplification of DNA from single thalli possible, even from small species or poorly developed individuals. DNA release is accomplished in an entirely mechanical manner using an arbor press fitted with custom-made components. This approach has eliminated additional treatment such as laborious freeze-thaw cycles, enzymes, or lysing agents. The overall PCR success rate of 89% is comparable to or better than alternative protocols that make use of substantially larger amounts of fungal tissue. From 97% of the successful PCRs a total of 156 sequences from four gene regions were produced. Being able to restrict DNA extractions to a single thallus is critical to all genetic studies requiring data at the level of individual, e.g. population genetics. As all researchers working with minute uncultivable organisms in many respects face the same problems (effective handling of the material, small quantities of DNA etc.), the methodology described here has a potential to be widely applicable. Necessary custom-made components can be manufactured at fairly low cost by any precision-tool workshop using our detail drawings.

Fellhaneropsis almquistiorum S. Ekman, a lichenized ascomycete in the family Pilocarpaceae (Lecanorales, Lecanoromycetes) is described as new to science. It is characterized by the thin and filmy crustose thallus, small photobiont, apothecia with a yellowish to black disk and well developed black margin that becomes excluded with age, dark green and brown pigmentation in the proper exciple and hypothecium, a hymenium without pigment or with some green and brown pigment, more or less fusiform and 3-septate ascospores, abundant black pycnidia, and long and filiform conidia. The species is currently known from central Sweden and central Germany, where it inhabits shaded and acid to neutral rocks with few competing lichens. Historical records were all misidentified as Bacidia coprodes or any of its synonyms or misapplied names. Some specimens of F. almquistiorum contain a previously unrecorded pigment, tentatively named here Almquistiorum-yellow. This pigment is intensely golden yellow in water, does not react with KOH and fades with the addition of HCl or HNO3. A key to all known, pycnidiate members of Fellhaneropsis is provided.

The Ramalinaceae is the fourth‐largest family of lichenized ascomycetes with 42 genera and 913 species exhibiting considerable morphological variation. Historically, generic boundaries in the Ramalinaceae were primarily based on morphological characters. However, molecular systematic investigations of subgroups revealed that current taxonomy is at odds with evolutionary relationships. Tropical members of the family remain particularly understudied, including the large genus Phyllopsora. We have generated and collected multilocus sequence data (mtSSU, nrITS, nrLSU, RPB1, RPB2) for 149 species associated with the Ramalinaceae and present the first comprehensive molecular phylogeny of the family. We used ancestral state reconstructions on our molecular family phylogeny to trace the evolution of character states. Our results indicate that the Ramalinaceae have arisen from an ancestor with long, multiseptate ascospores living in humid temperate forests, and that the phyllopsoroid growth form has evolved multiple times within the family. Based on our results using integrative taxonomy, we discuss sister‐relations and taxon‐delimitation within five well‐supported clades: The Bacidia, Biatora‐, Ramalina‐, Rolfidium‐, and Toninia‐groups. We reduce six genera into synonymy and make 49 new nomenclatural combinations. The genera Bacidia, Phyllopsora, Physcidia and Toninia are polyphyletic and herein split into segregates. We describe the two genera Bellicidia and Parallopsora and resurrect the genera Bibbya, Kiliassia, Sporacestra, and Thalloidima. According to our new circumscription, which also includes some additional changes, the family Ramalinaceae now comprises 39 genera. Locked until 18.8.2019 due to copyright restrictions. This is the peer reviewed version of an article, which has been published in final form at [https://doi.org/10.12705/675.1]. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.

Genetic diversity and fine-scale population structure in the lichen-forming ascomycete Xanthoria parietina was investigated using sequence variation in part of the intergenic spacer (IGS) and the complete internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions of the nuclear ribosomal DNA. Sampling included 213 and 225 individuals, respectively, from seven populations in two different habitats, bark and rock, on the island Storfosna off the central west coast of Norway. Both markers revealed significant variation and a total of 10 IGS and 16 ITS haplotypes were found. There were no signs of significant positive spatial autocorrelation at any spatial size class down to 10% of transect length, nor did we find significant deviations from neutrality or signs of historical population expansion. Analysis of molecular variance (amova) indicated that most of the genetic variance observed was within populations, but when populations were grouped according to habitat, more than a quarter of the variance was explained among groups. Pairwise comparisons of populations (F(ST), exact tests of population differentiation) revealed significant differentiation between populations in different habitats (on bark or rock), but not between populations in the same habitat. Haplotype networks show that internal and presumably old haplotypes are shared between habitats, whereas terminal haplotypes tend to be unique to a habitat, mostly bark. We interpret the observed pattern to mean that there is no evidence of restricted gene flow between populations in the same habitat at the present spatial scale (interpopulation distances one or a few kilometres). On the other hand, differentiation between habitats is considerable, which we attribute to restricted gene flow between habitats (habitat isolation). Evidence suggests that the observed differentiation did not evolve locally. Estimates of divergence time between populations in the respective habitats indicate that an ancestral population started to diverge at least 34,000 years ago but probably much further back in time.

Population structure and history is poorly known in most lichenized ascomycetes. Many species display large-scale infraspecific disjunctions, which have been explained alternately by range fragmentation in species of high age and widespread long-distance dispersal. Using the lichen Cavernularia hultenii , which is widely disjunct across North America and Europe, Pleistocene and Holocene population history was inferred. The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and part of the the intergenic spacer (IGS) region of the nuclear ribosomal DNA were sequenced in 300 individuals representing 62 populations across the range of the species. While four ancestral haplotypes are found in all areas, none of the observed tip haplotypes is present in more than one of the three part ranges. Although this is evidence for a past fragmentation event, nested clade analysis (NCA) remains equivocal in the choice between allopatric fragmentation and long-distance dispersal. Mismatch distributions indicate exponential population growth, probably during postglacial invasion of C. hultenii into formerly glaciated areas of western North America. The presence of one southern and at least one northern glacial refugium in South Central Alaska is inferred. Evidence for another refugium in the Queen Charlotte Islands or Alexander Archipelago is inconclusive because of sparse sampling. However, a range expansion was not confirmed unambiguously by NCA. The limited power of NCA to infer past range fragmentations and expansions is due apparently to the shallow haplotype network and widespread ancestral haplotypes. This can be explained by slow genetic drift causing incomplete removal of ancestral haplotypes from the postfragmentation and postexpansion areas.

The phylogeny of the families Lecanoraceae and Bacidiaceae (Lecanorales, Ascomycota) was investigated using 29 nuclear small subunit ribosomal DNA sequences, 9 of which were newly determined. The data set contained 368 variable characters, 234 of which were parsimony-informative. Phylogenetic estimations were performed with maximum parsimony and maximum likelihood optimality criteria. In the most parsimonious and most likely reconstructions, the Bacidiaceae sensu Hafellner 1988 forms a monophyletic group and the Lecanoraceae sensu Hafellner a paraphyletic group. The genera Tephromela and Scoliciosporum appear to belong outside these families. However, the hypothesis that the Lecanoraceae sensu Hafellner is monophyletic cannot be rejected, as indicated by a Kishino-Hasegawa test. Three hypotheses were rejected by Kishino-Hasegawa tests, viz. (1) that the Lecanoraceae and Bacidiaceae together form a monophyletic group; (2) that both the Lecanoraceae (incl. Scoliciosporum) and Bacidiaceae (incl. Tephromela) are monophyletic; and (3) that the ascus apex anatomy reflects phylogeny. The suborder Lecanorineae is paraphyletic unless the Stereocaulaceae and Cladoniaceae are included. One or both of the Bacidia and Lecanora types of ascus have probably evolved at least twice.

The following names are lectotypified: Polygonum amphibium, P. foliosum, P. hydropiper, P. lapathifolium ssp. leptocladum, P. pallidum and P. persicaria, Polygonum persicaria var. incana is neotypified. Polygonum ruderale is a superfluous nomenclatural synonym of P. persicaria. The following new combinations are made: Persicaria lapathifolia ssp. pallida, P. lapathifolia var. incana and P. lapathifolia var. linicola. The nomenclature of H. B. Danser's early works is discussed. Flora Nordica Notes no. 8.

(2143) Proposal to conserve the name Fuscopannaria against Moelleropsis (lichenized Ascomycota)

(1256) Bacidina Vezda in Folia Geobot. Phytotax. 25: 431. 4 Jan 1991 [Fungi], nom. cons. prop. Type: B. phacodes (Korb.) Vezda (Bacidiaphacodes Korb.). (=) Lichingoldia D. Hawksw. & Poelt in PI. Syst. Evol. 154: 203. 30 Jul 1986, nom. rej. prop. Type: L. gyalectiformis D. Hawksw. & Poelt. (=) Woessia D. Hawksw. & Poelt in P1. Syst. Evol. 154: 207. 30 Jul 1986, nom. rej. prop. Type: W. fusarioides D. Hawksw. & al.