The monophyletic Sarcogyne canadensis–wheeleri clade, a newly recognized group sister to the European Acarospora glaucocarpa group

Abstract

Molecular phylogenetic analyses of newly generated sequences from North American material belonging to the Acarospora glaucocarpa group recovered these sequences in a previously unrecognized clade sister to European members of the group. North American material is recognized as a distinct clade, named the “Sarcogyne canadensis–wheeleri clade,” and its constituent species are described. Four new calciphytes from North America are described from the clade: S. alcesensis, S. bernardinensis, S. convexa and S. wheeleri. Sarcogyne wheeleri is the taxon North American lichenologists usually identified as A. glaucocarpa. Acarospora canadensis was recovered in the clade and is revised and transferred to Sarcogyne. A neotype is designated for A. glaucocarpa. We transfer S. bolleana, a rare species described from Texas, to Acarospora and do not consider it a synonym of S. arenosa. We do not recognize A. glaucocarpa s.str. as occurring in continental North America. We supply a key to the S. canadensis-wheeleri clade. Currently we report 102 species of Acarosporaceae from North America.