gen. nov. and (Lecanorales, Protoparmelioideae): species description and generic delimitation using DNA barcodes and phenotypical characters.

Multilocus phylogenetic studies revealed a high level of cryptic diversity within the lichen-forming fungal genus (Protoparmelioideae, Parmeliaceae). Coalescent-based species delimitation suggested that most of the cryptic molecular lineages warranted recognition as separate species. Here we study the morphology and chemistry of these taxa and formally describe eight new species based on phenotypical and molecular characters. Further, we evaluate the use of ITS rDNA as a DNA barcode for identifying species in this genus. For the first time, we obtained an ITS sequence of , the type species of the genus and showed that it is phylogenetically not closely related to species currently placed in or . We assembled a dataset of 66 ITS sequences to assess the interspecies genetic distances amongst the twelve species using ITS as DNA barcode. We found that and form a supported monophyletic group whereas is sister to both. We therefore propose a new genus to accommodate the tropical-subtropical species within Protoparmelioideae, with as the type, , , , , , , and as new species and , , , and as new proposed combinations. We provide a key to and confirm the use of ITS for accurately identifying species in this group.