Taxonomy of the genus Athallia and its diversity in Turkey

Abstract

Molecular analyses of ITS nrDNA, using 42 new and 56 GenBank sequences, revealed 12 supported lineages of Athallia consistent with phenotype data. We regard these lineages as species. Eight of them were previously recognized as species in Athallia, and here we make three new combinations: A. baltistanica, A. brachyspora, and A. necator. Eight of these species have been recorded in Turkey; of them, A. baltistanica and A. saxifragarum are new to the country. The former is also new to Greece. Athallia baltistanica is recorded for the first time outside the Karakoram Mountains (N Pakistan). We propose a broader species concept for A. holocarpa, and we include A. vitellinula and Caloplaca alcarum within it. (The name Caloplaca alcarum has also been used incorrectly in the past for morphs of A. scopularis with reduced lobes.) Athallia nesodes includes two traditionally recognized taxa: Caloplaca inconnexa var. nesodes and Caloplaca inconnexa auct., non (Nyl.) Zahlbr. Our observations of type specimens show Caloplaca necator to be distinct from A. nesodes. We consider Athallia saxifragarum and Caloplaca schoeferi to be conspecific. The position of "Caloplaca" raesaenenii is ambiguous based on ITS data, being placed within or outside Athallia depending on the type of analysis.