The phenotypic features used for distinguishing species within the Cladonia furcata complex are highly homoplasious.The Lichenologist, http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0024282915000225Access to the published version may require subscription.
Abstract:The Cladonia furcata complex here treated comprises C. farinacea, C. furcata, C. multiformis, C. scabriuscula, C. stereoclada, and C. subrangiformis. The well known taxonomic complexity of this group is caused by wide phenotypic variation within and high morphological similarity among the species. Here, we investigated the evolution of the phenotypic characters traditionally used to distinguish the species in this complex. A phylogenetic analysis of the C. furcata complex is presented here, based on three loci (ITS rDNA, IGS rDNA and rpb2), representing specimens from a broad geographical range (Europe, North America and New Zealand). The phylogenetic reconstructions were performed using Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian analyses. In addition, 14 features traditionally used for species delimitation within this complex were mapped onto the Bayesian phylogeny. All the species currently accepted, with the exception of C. stereoclada, turned out to be polyphyletic. Most of the phenotypical characters studied are highly homoplasious with the exception of the podetium type.The solid podetia represent a diagnostic character of C. stereoclada.