Cardinal characters on a slippery slope – A re-evaluation of phylogeny, character evolution, and evolutionary rates in the jelly lichens (Collemataceae s. str)

•The phylogeny of Collemataceae is inferred from a dataset of 4 genes and 70 species.•Collemataceae comprises eleven well-supported monophyletic groups.•The evolution of 3 morphological and 1 ecological traits is studied by ancestral state reconstruction.•A mainly wet-tropical humid-temperate lineage exhibits accelerated evolutionary rate.

Recent molecular systematic studies have indicated that the traits currently used for generic delimitation in the jelly lichens (Collemataceae s. str.), may not characterize monophyletic groups. Here we reconstruct the phylogeny of Collemataceae using Bayesian and maximum likelihood analyses based on mitochondrial (mtSSU rDNA) and nuclear (nuLSU rDNA, Beta-tubulin and MCM7) markers of 70 Collemataceae species. We studied the evolution of four morphological and ecological characters traditionally used to delimit genera and infra-generic groups. Finally, we tested if differences in branch-lengths between clades are due to differences in rates of molecular evolution. Eleven strongly supported groups were recovered in the resulting well-resolved and well-supported phylogeny. The presence/absence of a eucortex, which is currently used as the cardinal character to define genera in the group, does not characterize monophyletic groups corresponding to the genera as currently circumscribed. Ancestral state reconstruction indicates that the most recent common ancestor of the jelly lichens most likely was saxicolous/terricolous, lacked a tomentum, and had transversally septate ascospores. Although the cortex state could not be reconstructed for the ancestor of the family, our observations indicate that a lack of cortex may have an evolutionary advantage in saxicolous/terricolous species in semi-arid environments, as non-corticate species tends to be larger and occur in higher frequency and abundance in such regions, compared to corticate species. A significant evidence for faster evolutionary rates was found in a lineage mainly including taxa that occur in the wet tropics and humid temperate regions, compared to other lineages. We suggest that this can explain the greater diversity of Collemataceae in tropical and humid areas.

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