A taxonomic study of Physconia muscigena group

The principal goal of my study was to find if ecologically and chemically different populations of lichens in the Physconia muscigena (Ach.) Poelt group belong to several species or a single one. This study focused on the molecular and chemical investigations of mostly European and Canadian populations. I use sequence data from three genes (ITS rDNA, mtSSU rDNA and TEF1) for the reconstruction of phylogenetic trees. I investigate phylogenetic relationships among the closely related species P. muscigena, P. bayeri, P. rossica, and P. isidiomuscigena. Also, I wanted to detect any possible geographical or ecological trends among chemotypes and haplotypes. As an additional goal I checked the recent localities of P. muscigena in the Czech Republic for valorising its conservation status. Results show that: (1) sequenced data of ITS rDNA and TEF1 show high intraspecific variability in P. muscigena samples. This genetic variability does not correlate neither with geographical distribution nor thallus chemistry; (2) P. bayeri is synonymous with P. muscigena; (3) some samples P. muscigena contain new undetermined secondary metabolite, (4) Physconia muscigena has only three recent localities in Czech Republic. Key words: Physconia muscigena, Physconia bayeri, infraspecific variability, taxonomy, TEF1, ITS..