Testing DNA Barcode

Plant and Fungal Systematics 65(2): 358–385, 2020 ISSN 2544-7459 (print)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.35535/pfsyst-2020-0026 ISSN 2657-5000 (online)
Testing DNA barcoding in Usnea (Parmeliaceae) in Colombia

using the internal transcribed spacer (ITS)
Bibiana Moncada1,3, Harrie J. M. Sipman2 & Robert Lücking2,3*
Abstract. We tested the functionality of ITS-based DNA barcoding in lichen fungi using
Article info
Colombian samples of the genus Usnea as an example. New ITS sequences were generated
Received: 13 Aug. 2020 for 15 samples from five localities in two different ecoregions, representing varying mor-
Revision received: 11 Nov. 2020 phologies and medullary chemistries. We employed five strategies to identify the samples:
Accepted: 11 Nov. 2020
(1) BLASTn on the NCBI BLAST site with the original identifications of the best match-
Published: 29 Dec. 2020
ing reference sequences; (2) as previous, but with revised identifications of the reference
Associate Editor sequences based on a separately published revision of ITS sequences published for the
Camille Truong genus; (3) local BLASTn in BioEdit using a separately published, revised and curated set of
ITS reference sequences for the genus; (4) multiple alignment based phylogenetic analysis
within the framework of all available ITS sequences for Usnea s.str.; and (5) integrative
taxonomy, combining molecular phylogeny and comparative analysis of phenotype and
chemical data. Using the latter approach as reference, we found that NCBI BLASTn with
original identifications performed poorly, resulting in an identification success rate of only
7% (a single sample). NCBI BLASTn with revised identifications more than tripled iden-
tification success (23%), but was still unsatisfactory. Local BLASTn in BioEdit using the
revised, curated reference data further doubled identification success (47%), but remained
inadequate. Multiple alignment-based phylogenetic analysis achieved an identification
success rate of 80% compared to the result from integrative taxonomy. Based on these
results, we conclude that ITS-based DNA barcoding of the genus Usnea under the current
circumstances performs poorly, but can be substantially improved using three strategies:
(1) update identifications of reference sequences in primary repositories such as GenBank
or alternatively use a curated reference data set; (2) perform local BLAST with a curated
reference data set focusing on the target genus only, combined with multiple alignment-based
phylogenetic analysis as a verification step; and (3) close substantial geographic and tax-
onomic gaps in the existing reference data. Our analyses suggest that if a near-complete
reference data set with correct identifications existed for the genus, then standard BLAST
approaches could achieve high levels of identification success close to 100%. As part of
our DNA barcoding exercise, which generated the first 15 ITS sequences for Colombian
samples of the genus Usnea, we confirm the presence of U. aranea and U. wasmuthii in
Colombia and we report for the first time U. tenuicorticata for the country.
Key words: Usnea columbiana, Usnea concinna, Usnea fruticans, Usnea macrura, Usnea
nidulans, Usnea setulosa, Usnea sulphurascens
Introduction
DNA barcoding has become an important tool in mycol- Truong et al. 2017; Hofstetter et al. 2019; Lücking et al.
ogy to provide species identifications or verify determi- 2020a). Unfortunately, DNA barcoding of fungi (including
nations based on phenotype characters (Begerow et al. lichens) has a number of challenges, including mark-
2010; Kelly et al. 2011; Schoch et al. 2012; Xu 2016; er-specific limitations, the incompleteness of reference
sequence databases, and the often incomplete or mis-
1
Licenciatura en Biología, Universidad Distrital Francisco José de
leading sequence identifications (Vilgalys 2003; Nilsson
Caldas, Cra. 4 No. 26D-54, Torre de Laboratorios, Herbario, Bogotá et al. 2006, 2012; Bidartondo 2008; Tedersoo et al. 2011;
D.C., Colombia Lücking et al. 2020a–c). The lichenized genus Usnea
2
Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum, Freie Universität Berlin, Dill. ex Adans. is no exception. In a detailed analysis
Königin-Luise-Straße 6–8, 14195 Berlin, Germany
3
Research Associate, Integrative Research Center, The Field Museum,
of all available ITS barcoding data for this hyperdiverse
1400 S Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605, USA genus (in the definition by Lücking et al. 2017a), Lück-
*
Corresponding author e-mail: [email protected] ing et al. (2020c) demonstrated numerous shortcomings
© 2020 W. Szafer Institute of Botany, Polish Academy of Sciences.

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
B. Moncada et al.: Testing DNA barcoding in Usnea in Colombia 359
in sequence data pertaining to Usnea: first and foremost out to demonstrate that DNA barcoding is not the fast,
taxonomic and geographic gaps, but also substantial issues universal approach to species identifications that users
with sequence identifications and voucher information. In would like to see. Instead, it requires a detailed follow-up
addition, species identification in Usnea is challenging, as to verify initial results, often arriving at different iden-
many presumably widespread taxa represent complexes tifications. At some time in the future, when complete
of partly unrelated lineages and much work remains to be and accurate reference sequence databases are available,
done to fully resolve the taxonomy of this genus (Seymour DNA barcoding will become a routine approach. Until
et al. 2007; Wirtz et al. 2008, 2012; Lumbsch & Wirtz then, it is the hard work of expert taxonomists, such as
2011; Saag et al. 2011; Shen et al. 2012; Truong & Clerc Philippe, his colleagues and students, that provides the
2012, 2016; Truong et al. 2013a, b; Clerc 2016; Mark basis for molecular identifications by sorting out species
et al. 2016; Gerlach et al. 2017, 2019, 2020; Clerc & Otte and their nomenclature, arriving at a solid alpha taxonomy
2018; Grewe et al. 2018; Lagostina et al. 2018; Dorey through years of studying collections, reference material
et al. 2019; Temu et al. 2019; Lücking et al. 2020c). and historical literature, and reconciling this information
Here we use Colombia as an example to illustrate the with molecular phylogenies. We hope that Philippe will
potential and the limitations of ITS-barcoding in the genus have many more years to continue this indispensable task.
Usnea focusing on tropical species. South America has
been identified as one of the better sampled regions in terms Material and methods
of molecular data for this genus (Lücking et al. 2020c), and
a number of taxonomic and phylogenetic revisions have New ITS sequences were generated for 15 specimens of
been published for this region in the past decade (Truong the genus Usnea collected in two ecologically disparate
et al. 2011, 2013, b; Truong & Clerc 2016; Gerlach et al. departments (Cundinamarca, Putumayo) and five localities
2017, 2019, 2020; Bungartz et al. 2018). For Colombia, in Colombia (Fig. 1).
63 species were listed in the Catalog of Lichens of Colom- Molecular work was performed in the Pritzker Lab-
bia (Sipman & Aguirre-C. 2016), a number subsequently oratory for Molecular Systematics and Evolution of the
adjusted to 60, with six name changes (Lücking et al. Field Museum and in the molecular laboratories of the
2020d). Furthermore, 20 species have been added since Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum, Freie Uni-
then, for a total of 80 (Pulido-Herrera & Ramos-Montaño versität Berlin. DNA was extracted from each sample
2016; Truong & Clerc 2016; Diaz-Escandón et al. 2016; using the SIGMA REDExtract-N-AmpTM Plant Tissue
Ramírez-Morán et al. 2016; Simijaca et al. 2018; Moncada PCR Kit (St. Louis, Missouri, SA) for DNA isolation
et al., in prep.). This makes Colombia one of the countries following the manufacturer’s instructions, but with lower
with the highest presumed species richness reported for proportions for lower amounts of DNA. Dilutions of either
the genus Usnea; e.g., 92 species have been listed for all 10:1 or 100:1 were used for PCR amplifications, with
of North America north of Mexico (Esslinger 2019), an the primer pairs ITS1F and ITS4 (Gardes & Bruns 1993;
area 19 times larger than Colombia, 66 for Mexico (Her- White et al. 1990). The 25 µL PCR reactions contained
rera-Campos 2016), and just about three dozen species are 2.5 µL buffer, 2.5 µL dNTP mix, 1 µL of each primer
known from Europe (Randlane et al. 2009). (10 µM), 5 µL BSA, 2 µL Taq (either Taq provided with
Up to the present, no Colombian material of the genus the SIGMA REDExtract-N-AmpTM Plant Tissue PCR
Usnea has been used to generate ITS barcoding data Kit or peqGOLD Taq-Polymerase, VWR), 2 µL genomic
(Lücking et al. 2020c). However, for 41 of the 80 spe- DNA extract and 9 µL distilled water. The thermal cycling
cies names reported for Colombia (51%), barcoding parameters were set as follows: initial denaturation for
data exist for material from other regions (Lücking et al. 3 min at 95°C, followed by 30 cycles of 1 min at 95°C,
2020c). While it is conceivable that neotropical species 1 min at 52°C, 1 min at 73°C, and final elongation for
listed for the country, such as U. malmei Motyka, indeed 7 min at 73°C. Amplification products were separated on
occur there, the presence of presumably widespread taxa 1% agarose gels stained with ethidium bromide. Purifi-
originally described from other regions, such as U. hirta cation was done either by cutting the target bands and
(L.) Weber ex F.H.Wigg., is questionable, and barcoding employing the QIAGEN QIAquick PCR Purification
data can help to elucidate these issues. We therefore used Kit (Hilden, Germany) or the MACHEREY-NAGEL
an opportunistic sample of 15 specimens representing Nucleo Spin DNA purification kit (Düren, Germany), or
15 morphologically and chemically different ‘taxa’, col- by applying the THERMO-FISHER ExoSAP-ITTM PCR
lected in different Colombian ecoregions, to assess the Product Cleanup (Waltham, Massachussetts) directly to
success rate of ITS-based barcoding for species identifi- the PCR product. At the Field Museum, fragments were
cations. Based on the results, we also employed a simple sequenced using the ABI PRISM Big Dye Terminator
prediction method to assess how complete the knowledge reaction kit (Applied Biosystems). Sequencing and PCR
of Usnea in the Colombian lichen biota currently is, by amplifications were performed using the same sets of
comparing the proportion of already reported versus novel primers. Cycle sequencing was executed with the fol-
elements among the sequenced material. lowing setting: 25 cycles of 95°C for 30 sec, 48°C for
We dedicate this paper to our esteemed colleague, 15 sec, 60°C for 4 min. Sequenced products were pre-
Philippe Clerc, who recently retired from active duty as cipitated with 10 µL of sterile dH2O, 2 µL of 3 M Napa,
Head of the Herbarium at the Conservatoire et Jardin and 50 µL of 95% EtOH and subsequently loaded on an
Botaniques de la Ville de Genève. With our study, we set ABI 3100 (Applied Biosystems) automatic sequencer.
360 Plant and Fungal Systematics 65(2): 358–385, 2020
et al. (2020c). In a second step, we blasted the same

query sequences locally in BioEdit 7.2.5 (Hall 1999, 2011)
using the ‘Usnea ITS Barcoding Release 1.0’ provided
by Lücking et al. (2020c) with the following settings:
program = BLASTn; E value = 1.0–100; matrix = BLO-
SUM62; max number of hits to report = 10; threshold
for extending hit = 0.
Finally, we aligned the query sequences with the
global ITS alignment for the genus Usnea assembled
by Lücking et al. (2020c), originally consisting of 1,756
ingroup terminals. Since all 15 query sequences belonged
in Usnea s.str., the final analysis was done with a subset
corresponding to Usnea s.str. with selected sequences of
Dolichousnea (Y. Ohmura) Articus and Eumitria Stirt. as
outgroup and a total of 918 ingroup reference sequences
(File S1). A maximum likelihood tree was reconstructed
with RAxML 8 (Stamatakis 2014) using the RAxML-HPC
Blackbox 8.2.12 on the CIPRES Science Gateway (Miller
et al. 2010). We employed the GTR-Gamma model with
an automatically determined number of 403 bootstrap
pseudoreplicates determined by a saturation criterion.
To assess the morphology, anatomy, and medullary
chemistry of the sequenced specimens, we examined
them using established protocols (Clerc 1987, 2007;
Gerlach et al. 2017, 2019; Halonen et al. 1998, 1999;
Herrera-Campos 2016; Mark et al. 2016; Ohmura 2001,
2012; Randlane et al. 2009; Truong & Clerc 2016; Truong
et al. 2013b). For morphological and anatomical obser-
vations, we used a LEICA Zoom 2000 dissecting micro-
scope. Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) was performed
according to Orange et al. (2010) using solvent C. We
compared the identifications of the 15 sequenced sam-
ples with the 80 names currently listed for Colombia to
arrive at a simple prediction of the total number of Usnea
Figure 1. Map of the five sampling localities in Colombia. Base map species possibly occurring in Colombia, assuming that
taken from Wikimedia Commons [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wiki- the 15 sequenced species represent a stochastic sample
pedia/commons/2/2b/Colombia_relief_location_map.jpg]. relative to the 80 reported species. For instance, if all
15 sequenced samples corresponded to already reported
At the Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum, names, then the number of 80 species would be assumed
Freie Universität Berlin, cycle sequencing was carried out to be representative. If only five out of the 15 species
by MACROGEN Europe (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) corresponded to a listed species, then one would assume
using the same primers as in the PCR reactions. Sequence that the actual number could be three times higher than 80,
reads were assembled with DNASTAR SeqMan 4.03 and i.e., 240. The underlying formula to be applied is S = 80×
GENEIOUS 8.1.0, manually inspected and adjusted and, 15 / N, where S = estimated total richness and N = number
after quality control within the context of multiple align- of species shared between sequenced and listed taxa.
ments, submitted to GenBank (Table 1).
DNA barcoding was done in three steps. In the first Results and discussion
step, we blasted the query sequences in the BLASTn suite
[https://blast.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Blast.cgi?PROGRAM=- BLAST results. NCBI BLASTn resulted in a total of
blastn&PAGE_TYPE=BlastSearch&LINK_LOC=blast- 14 different potential identifications for the 15 query
home] using BLASTn with default settings. For each sequences, taking into account the three best hits plus
query sequence, we recorded the three best hits based up to three addition hits with a percentage identity of
on maximum score, plus up to three additional hits with 98.5% or higher (Table 2). These were (in alphabetical
a percentage identity of 98.5% or higher when present order) Usnea ceratina Ach., U. cornuta Körb., U. gla-
among the result, thereby using the default threshold for brescens (Nyl. ex Vain.) Vain., U. halei P. Clerc, U. aff.
species hypotheses in the curated fungal ITS database ignaria Motyka, U. intermedia (A. Massal.) Jatta, U. lap-
UNITE (Abarenkov et al. 2010; Kõljalg et al. 2013, 2019; ponica Vain., U. rubrotincta Stirt., U. subantarctica
Nilsson et al. 2019; Lücking et al. 2020a). The result F.J. Walker, U. subfusca Stirt., U. subscabrosa Nyl. ex
was analyzed both based on the original identifications Motyka, U. substerilis Motyka, U. wasmuthii Räsänen,
and the corrected identifications as assessed by Lücking and Usnea sp. Only three query sequences had potential
Table 1. Voucher information for the 15 Colombian samples of the genus Usnea used for this barcoding study. The taxa are given as Usnea sp.
in the table, but were submitted under the names applied in the taxonomic section below.
Taxon Isolate Voucher ITS Accession

Usnea sp. DB22576 Colombia, Moncada & Lücking 41018b (B 60 0200038) MW241067
Usnea sp. DB22608 Colombia, Moncada & Lücking 41047a (B 60 0200039) MW241068
Usnea sp. DB22609 Colombia, Moncada & Lücking 41048a (B 60 0200041) MW241069
Usnea sp. DB22615 Colombia, Moncada & Lücking 41047b (B 60 0200040) MW241070
Usnea sp. DB22625 Colombia, Moncada & Lücking 41058c (B 60 0200042) MW241071
Usnea sp. DB22638 Colombia, Moncada & Lücking 41067 (B 60 0200043) MW241072
Usnea sp. MON5335 Colombia, Rivera & Salinas 72 (B 60 0200046) MW241075
Usnea sp. MON5349 Colombia, Rivera & Salinas 87 (B 60 0200047) MW241076
Usnea sp. MON5795 Colombia, Moncada & Lücking 11069 (B 60 0200048) MW241077
Usnea sp. MON5866 Colombia, Moncada et al. 10870 (B 60 0200049) MW241078
Usnea sp. MON6140 Colombia, Moncada & Patiño 11399 (B 60 0200050) MW241079
Usnea sp. MON6229 Colombia, Moncada & Patiño 11272a (B 60 0200051) MW241080
Usnea sp. MON6230 Colombia, Moncada & Patiño 11272b (B 60 0200053) MW241081
hits with a percentage identity of 98.5% or higher, seven accession with the adjusted identifications provided by
had at best close matches between 97.0% and 98.5%, Lücking et al. (2020c) resulted in a total of 22 differ-
and five had only distant matches below 97.0% (Fig. 2). ent potential identifications for the 15 query sequences:
Individual query sequences had up to five different names U. aranea Truong & P. Clerc, U. aff. ceratina, U. aff.
as best hits (Table 2, Fig. 2). Taking into account only the confusa Asahina, U. aff. cornuta, U. glabrata (Ach.) Vain.,
hits with the highest percentage identity for each query U. glabrescens, U. halei, U. aff. halei, U. aff. ignaria,
sequence, the identifications included only six full names, U. intermedia, U. lapponica, U. pacificana Halonen,
i.e., Usnea ceratina (1), U. halei (1), U. intermedia (3), U. perhispidella J. Steiner, U. aff. rubicunda Stirt., U. sub-
U. subfusca (1), U. substerilis (2), and U. wasmuthii (1), antarctica, U. subflammea P. Clerc, U. subfusca, U. sub-
and several unresolved identifications as Usnea sp. (7). scabrosa, U. aff. viktoriana P. Clerc & Otte, U. wasmuthii,
Keeping the NCBI BLASTn results, but replacing the Usnea sp. 1 (JAM), and Usnea sp. 20 (Table 2). Of these,
corresponding sequence identifications for each reference only nine out of these 22 names agreed with the origi-
nal identifications for these reference sequences, namely
U. glabrescens, U. halei, U. aff. igniaria, U. intermedia,
U. lapponica, U. subantarctica, U. subfusca, U. subsca-
brosa, and U. wasmuthii, whereas 13 names corresponded
to species not obvious from the original identifications.
This resulted in an overlap between original and adjusted
names of just 41%. Taking into account only the hits with
the highest percentage identity for each query sequence,
the corrected identifications included eight full names,
U. aranea (1), U. halei (1), U. intermedia (2), U. lappo-
nica (1), U. pacificana (1), U. perhispidella (2), U. sub-
fusca (2), and U. wasmuthii (1), three names with tentative
identifications, namely U. aff. ceratina (2), U. aff. confusa
(1), and U. aff. viktoriana (1), and two unresolved names,
Usnea sp. 1 (JAM) (2) and Usnea sp. 20 (1). Among the
fully named potential identifications, only four (50%)
overlapped with the original BLASTn identifications.
Between the original and the corrected BLASTn
identifications, only six of the 15 query sequences (40%)
obtained the same potential identification, whereas for
nine (60%) it was different (Table 2; Fig. 3). Among
Figure 2. NCBI BLASTn ‘Barcoding wheel’ for the 15 query sequences
of the genus Usnea from Colombia. Each pie represents one query se-
original identifications, roughly 20% represented unre-
quence and the colors correspond to levels of percentage identity: purple solved names (Usnea sp.), whereas the corrected names
= 98.5% or higher, orange = between 97% and 98.5%, beige = below were completely resolved, although in many cases rep-
97%. The numbers indicate the amount of different names appearing resenting provisional names only (Table 2; Fig. 3). Most
among the best BLAST hits (see Table 2). Ideally, the barcoding wheel
should be purple throughout and have one precise name among the best
of the differences applied to names either appearing as
BLAST hits, so this graphic abstraction allows a quick assessment how close or distant hits only or to names with qualifiers.
DNA barcoding is performing in a set of query sequences. Only two full names appearing as potential matches were
Table 2. NCBI BLASTn suite results for the 15 query ITS sequences. For each query sequence, the three best hits (based on maximum score) are
given, plus up to three additional hits with high percentage identity. Accession = GenBank accession number for the corresponding hits; Original
ID = identification on submitted reference sequence; Corrected ID = correct identification according to Lücking et al. (2020c); MS = Maximum
score; QC = Query cover; PI = Percentage identity; Class = classification; potential = potential match (98.5% or higher), close = close match
(between 97.0% and 98.5%), distant = distant match (below 97.%); Inferred ID = most likely identification based on the highest percentage identity
and precision of the corrected ID. The asterisk marks the only instance of a BLAST hit also related in the phylogenetic analysis.
Query Accession Original ID Corrected ID MS QC PI Class Inferred ID

DB22576 MG262534 subfusca subfusca 1028 100% 98,5% potential wasmuthii
KX132920 intermedia intermedia 1008 97% 98,8% potential
*
JN086334 wasmuthii wasmuthii 989 92% 100% potential
*
JN086331 wasmuthii wasmuthii 985 92% 99,8% potential
MK812501 wasmuthii wasmuthii 974 91% 99,8% potential
DB22608 MG262534 subfusca subfusca 1014 100% 98,0% close aff. viktoriana
DQ219307 aff. ignaria aff. ignaria 994 100% 97,3% close
KX132928 substerilis aff. viktoriana 988 96% 98,1% close
DB22609 MG262534 subfusca subfusca 941 100% 95,5% distant aff. intermedia
KX132919 intermedia intermedia 941 97% 96,2% distant
DQ219307 aff. ignaria aff. ignaria 940 100% 95,5% distant
DB22615 MG262534 subfusca subfusca 1011 100% 98,0% close cf. subfusca
KX132919 intermedia intermedia 969 96% 97,6% close
KX132928 substerilis aff. viktoriana 966 96% 97,4% close
DB22625 MG262534 subfusca subfusca 950 99% 95,8% distant aff. intermedia
DQ219307 aff. ignaria aff. ignaria 949 99% 95,8% distant
DB22638 LC479125 rubrotincta aff. rubicunda 977 99% 96,8% distant aff. confusa
DQ232664 rubrotincta aff. rubicunda 977 99% 96,8% distant
LC479123 cornuta aff. cornuta 976 98% 97,3% distant
MT553315 Usnea sp. aff. confusa 967 95% 97,9% distant
DB22671 MG262534 subfusca subfusca 1007 100% 98,0% potential pacificana
KX132930 lapponica lapponica 993 97% 98,3% potential
*
JN086328 substerilis pacificana 983 92% 99,8% potential
JN086329 substerilis glabrescens 965 92% 99,1% potential
AB051639 glabrescens glabrescens 949 90% 99,3% potential
DB22672 HQ671307 Usnea sp. perhispidella 994 99% 97,2% close cf. perhispidella
LC479125 rubrotincta aff. rubicunda 963 100% 95,8% distant
DQ232664 rubrotincta aff. rubicunda 963 100% 95,8% distant
MON5335 MG262534 subfusca subfusca 1018 100% 98,0% close cf. subfusca
JN086313 intermedia lapponica 941 92% 98,0% close
MON5349 MT553280 Usnea sp. aranea 1032 98% 98,8% potential aranea
MT553285 Usnea sp. aranea 985 93% 99,3% potential
MN006801 Usnea sp. glabrata 959 98% 96,4% distant
MON5795 MK010860 Usnea sp. Usnea sp. 20 962 100% 96,1% distant aff. ceratina
KY033353 ceratina aff. ceratina 961 100% 96,1% distant
MT553305 Usnea sp. aff. halei 956 100% 95,8% distant
MON5866 KY033353 ceratina aff. ceratina 997 99% 97,2% close cf. perhispidella
MG242037 subscabrosa subscabrosa 987 99% 96,8% distant
MT553306 Usnea sp. subflammea 982 99% 96,7% distant
HQ671307 Usnea sp. perhispidella 969 95% 97,9% close
MON6140 MT553302 Usnea sp. Usnea sp. 1 (JAM) 903 99% 94,1% distant Usnea sp.
EF179806 subantarctica subantarctica 875 100% 93,0% distant
EF179805 subantarctica subantarctica 875 100% 93,0% distant
MON6229 MT553302 Usnea sp. Usnea sp. 1 (JAM) 984 99% 97,0% close Usnea sp.
MG262534 subfusca subfusca 940 100% 95,3% distant
MON6230 KY033353 ceratina aff. ceratina 943 100% 97,3% close aff. ceratina
MG252375 halei halei 939 100% 97,3% close
MT553305 Usnea sp. aff. halei 939 99% 97,1% close
different between both approaches: U. substerilis was • DB22608: aff. viktoriana (NCBI revised) → aff.
found as potential match among the original, but not the fragilescens (local)
corrected names, whereas U. aranea was found as poten- • DB22609: aff. intermedia (NCBI revised) → aff.
tial match among the corrected but not the original names barbata (L.) F.H. Wigg. (local)
(Table 2; Fig. 3). • DB22625: aff. intermedia (NCBI revised) → aff.
Local BLASTn in BioEdit using the ‘Usnea ITS Bar- barbata (local)
coding Release 1.0’ provided by Lücking et al. (2020c) • DB22615: aff. subfusca (NCBI revised) → aff.
was only partly congruent with NCBI BLASTn, even silesiaca Motyka (local)
when the latter was replaced with the revised reference • DB22638: aff. confusa (NCBI revised) → tenui-
sequence identifications, resulting in identical identifica- corticata Gerlach et al. (local)
tions for only six out of 15 query sequences (Table 3). For • DB22672: cf. perhispidella (NCBI revised) → aff.
the remaining nine query sequences, identifications based subpectinata Stirt. (local)
on the best matching hits changed as follows, including • MON5866: cf. perhispidella (NCBI revised) →
an additional four names (in boldface) not previously aff. subpectinata (local)
recovered through the two previous searches based on • MON5335: cf. subfusca (NCBI revised) → aff.
NCBI BLASTn with original and revised identifications: wasmuthii (local)
• MON5795: aff. ceratina (NCBI revised) → aff.
rubicunda (local)
Phylogenetic approach. The best-scoring maximum

likelihood tree placed the 15 query sequences in 12 dis-
tant positions within Usnea s.str. (Fig. 4; Fig. S1). Three
pairs of samples clustered together in grades or clades of
closely related or perhaps conspecific lineages: DB22672
formed a paraphyletic grade with MON5866; MON6140
and MON6229 formed a monophyletic clade on a long
branch with each sequence forming a long internal branch;
and DB22609 and DB22625 also formed a monophyletic
clade on a long branch (Fig. S1).
As mentioned, the two accessions DB22672 and
MON5866 clustered in a paraphyletic grade within an
unsupported clade including two accessions from Ecuador
(JQ837295) and Peru (JQ837298), originally identified as
Usnea cornuta (Truong et al. 2013a) and relabeled U. aff.
subpectinata by Lücking et al. (2020c). The two query
sequences formed a well-supported subclade with the
Ecuadorian sample, but from the branch length pattern
it was unclear whether one, two, three of four species
were involved in this clade. In a three-species solution,
MON5866 would be conspecific with the Ecuadorian sam-
ple and DB22672 and the Peruvian sample would form
distinct species each. In a one- or two-species approach,
the two query sequences would be identified as U. aff.
subpectinata.
The sample MON5795 clustered with support at the
base of Usnea dodgei Motyka, but clearly formed a sep-
arate lineage, differing in 12 substitutions and two indels,
resulting in 97.1% identity (File S1). MON6230 formed
another, entirely separate linage, with no supported rela-
tionship to any known species or clade. DB22638 associ-
ated closely with an accession from Madeira (JQ837294)
originally submitted under the name U. brasiliensis
(Zahlbr.) Motyka (Truong et al. 2013a) and renamed
Figure 3. Comparison of NCBI BLASTn results between identifications
resulting from the original labels and the corrected labels provided by
U. tenuicorticata in a recent study, together with two
Lücking et al. (2020c). Each section represents a name-based identi- Brazilian accessions on a sister clade (Gerlach et al. 2020;
fication appearing as best hit for one or more query sequences. The Lücking et al. 2020c). If U. tenuicorticata is accepted in
numbers indicate the amount of potential (≥ 98.5%), close (between a broad sense, the Colombian sample phylogenetically
97% and 98.5%) and distant (< 97%) matches. Purple = names appearing
in both original and corrected labels; orange = names appearing either
belongs to that species. MON5349 is another specimen
only among original or among corrected labels; light colors in both that was found grouping with an existing clade, origi-
cases represent names with qualifiers (cf., aff.). nally labeled Usnea sp. 4 and formally named U. aranea
Table 3. Local (BioEdit) BLASTn results for the 15 query ITS sequences using the ‘Usnea ITS Barcoding Release 1.0’ provided by Lücking et al.
(2020c). For each query sequence, the three best hits (based on maximum score) are given, plus up to three additional hits with high percentage
identity. MS = Maximum score; PI = Percentage identity; Inferred ID = most likely identification based on the highest percentage identity and
precision of the reference ID.
Query Local BLASTn hits (string) MS PI Inferred ID

DB22576 Usnea_wasmuthii-2_MK812232_Norway_ID-O-L-198061 1021 99.8% wasmuthii
Usnea_wasmuthii-3_MK812501_Norway_ID-O-L-197890 1013 99.6%
Usnea_wasmuthii-1_AB051676_Japan_ID-Ohmura-3821 997 99.8%
Usnea_wasmuthii-1_JN086331_Estonia_ID-was-02 993 100%
Usnea_wasmuthii-1_JN086334_England_ID-was-05 993 100%
Usnea_wasmuthii-1_JN086337_England_ID-was-09 993 100%
DB22608 Usnea_fragilescens_MK812021_Norway_ID-O-L-200604 981 98.8% aff. fragilescens
Usnea_aff-fragilescens-1_JQ837309_Bolivia_ID-119 971 99.8%
Usnea_aff-fragilescens-1_JQ837310_Bolivia_ID-96 955 99.4%
Usnea_fragilescens_JN943519_Scotland_ID-EDNA09-02354 932 99.0%
DB22609 Usnea_barbata-2_KX132929_Switzerland_ID-LIFU020-16 846 95.8% aff. barbata
Usnea_intermedia-2_KX132919_Switzerland_ID-LIFU010-16 846 95.8%
Usnea_aff-viktoriana-3_MK812140_Norway_ID-O-L-184699 839 95.6%
DB22615 Usnea_subfusca_MG262534_USA_Lendemer-46309 912 97.7% aff. silesiaca
Usnea_dasopoga_MK812173_Norway_ID-O-L-196273 910 97.5%
Usnea_wasmuthii-2_MK812232_Norway_ID-O-L-198061 902 97.3%
Usnea_aff-silesiaca_JQ837331_Ecuador_ID-88 900 98.2%
DB22625 Usnea_barbata-2_KX132929_Switzerland_ID-LIFU020-16 862 96.2% aff. barbata
Usnea_aff-viktoriana-3_MK812140_Norway_ID-O-L-184699 854 96.0%
DB22638 Usnea_tenuicorticata_JQ837294_Madeira_ID-44 965 100% tenuicorticata
Usnea_spec_MT553315_Jamaica_JAM-159 924 97.7%
Usnea_aff-cornuta-1_LC479123_Japan_ID-TNS-YO10417 912 97.5%
Usnea_tenuicorticata_MF669811_Brazil_ID-11BR 906 98.8%
DB22671 Usnea_pacificana_JN086328_Estonia_ID-subs-01 985 99.8% pacificana
Usnea_pacificana_JN086286_Estonia_ID-dip-05 985 99.8%
Usnea_glabrescens_AB051639_Japan_ID-Ohmura-3824B 981 99.2%
Usnea_aff-fulvoreagens-1_AB051638_Japan_ID-Ohmura-2906 973 99.0%
Usnea_pacificana_JN943554_Scotland_ID-EDNA09-01568 965 99.8%
Usnea_pacificana_FR799052_Scotland_ID-EDNA09-01568 965 99.8%
Usnea_aff-fulvoreagens-1_KU352691_USA_ID-WW-073 957 99.6%
Usnea_aff-fulvoreagens-1_KU352706_USA_ID-WW-142 957 99.6%
DB22672 Usnea_aff-dasaea-1_AB051056_Japan_ID-Ohmura-2842 916 97.7% aff. subpectinata
Usnea_spec-4-Buckley_KM369390_New-Zealand_ID-FNO40 910 97.1%
Usnea_perhispidella_HQ671307_unknown_ID-Hur-TW090007 910 97.3%
Usnea_subpectinata-2_MF669884_Brazil_ID-42BR 892 98.1%
MON5335 Usnea_wasmuthii-2_MK812232_Norway_ID-O-L-198061 934 97.7% aff. wasmuthii
Usnea_subfusca_MG262534_USA_Lendemer-46309 928 97.7%
Usnea_intermedia-1_KX132920_Switzerland_ID-LIFU011-16-versA 928 97.7%
MON5349 Usnea_spec_MT553280_Jamaica_JAM-053 989 98.8% aranea
Usnea_aranea_JQ837293_Ecuador_ID-121 979 100%
MON5795 Usnea_aff-rubicunda-6_DQ232664_South-Korea_ID-Hur-50347 866 96.0% aff. rubicunda
Usnea_aff-rubicunda-6_LC479125_Japan_ID-TNS-YO10300 866 96.0%
Usnea_rubrotincta_FJ494951_Taiwan_ID-Li354 858 95.8%
Usnea_rubicunda_JN086323_England_ID-rub-02 854 96.4%
Usnea_rubicunda_JN086322_England_ID-rub-01 854 96.4%
MON5866 Usnea_aff-subpectinata_JQ837295_Ecuador_ID-133 969 99.6% aff. subpectinata
Usnea_perhispidella_HQ671307_unknown_ID-Hur-TW090007 934 97.9%
Usnea_aff-dasaea-1_AB051056_Japan_ID-Ohmura-2842 924 97.9%
Usnea_aff-subpectinata_JQ837298_Peru_ID-28 922 98.3%
Table 3. Continued.
Query Local BLASTn hits (string) MS PI Inferred ID

MON6140 Usnea_spec_MT553302_Jamaica_JAM-081 745 93.7% Usnea sp.
Usnea_barbata-2_KX132929_Switzerland_ID-LIFU020-16 712 92.5%
MON6229 Usnea_spec_MT553302_Jamaica_JAM-081 892 96.7% Usnea sp.
Usnea_barbata-2_KX132929_Switzerland_ID-LIFU020-16 841 95.4%
MON6230 Usnea_aff-ceratina_KY033353_USA_ID-Lendemer-46119 914 97.1% aff. ceratina
Usnea_halei_MG252375_USA_ID-46374 906 97.1%
(Truong et al. 2013a; Truong & Clerc 2016). Phyloge- seven resulted in affinities with South American clades,
netically, the Colombian sample forms part of that taxon. highlighting a strong geographic signal in the phyloge-
The sample DB22608 clustered at the base of the netic relationships of the Colombian specimens.
Usnea fragilescens clade, which consists of U. fragiles-
cens s.str. from Europe and a basal grade from Bolivia BLAST artifacts caused by concatenated reference
apparently representing a separate species (Lücking et al. sequences. Among the original NCBI BLASTn results,
2020c). The Colombian sample phylogenetically forms we noticed an unusually high number of appearances
part of this small grade. An intriguing result was found of the same reference sequence as hit, namely Usnea
for the two samples MON6140 and MON6229, both from subfusca (MG262534), which was found among the best
the same area in southern Colombia and both forming hits for no less than eight query sequences (Table 2). In
a strongly supported clade on a long branch, but each contrast, local BLASTn in BioEdit returned this acces-
sample also having a long internal branch (Fig. S1). The sion only two times (Table 3). Both the high number
clade was sister to an accession representing U. subru- of appearances in the NCBI BLASTn and the relative
bicunda P. Clerc (JQ837332; Truong et al. 2013a), but ‘disappearance’ of this accession in the local BLASTn
that relationship was not supported. DB22615 clustered raised suspicion, particularly since the reference acces-
with support with an accession from Ecuador (JQ837331) sion was used in all BLAST approaches and in the NCBI
originally identified as U. silesiaca (Truong et al. 2013a), BLAST it appeared as best hit for various unrelated query
but not belonging to that species and therefore relabeled sequences (Fig. 4).
U. aff. silesiaca by Lücking et al. (2020c). The latter The Usnea subfusca accession is an apparently unpub-
sequence contains a number of odd base calls which lished sequence deposited by K. T. Whittington et al.
could explain the longer internal branch (Lücking et al. in 2017. In contrast to other BLAST hits, it represents
2020c), but based on the topology it is also possible that a complete sequence of the rDNA tandem repeat, i.e.,
the Colombian and Ecuadorian samples represent two the full nuSSU-ITS-nuLSU gene with a length of 10,050
distinct species. In contrast, the two specimens DB22609 bases. BLAST results are sensitive to reference and query
and DB22625 formed a fully supported clade in an unsup- sequence lengths and especially to substantial differences
ported sister group relationship to the European Usnea between the two (Altschul et al. 1990; Camacho et al.
silesiaca s.str., and both can be considered a single species. 2009; Pearson 2013), and so he hypothesized that the
DB22576 clustered with the Usnea wasmuthii clade length of this particular accession, encompassing the
and phylogenetically formed part of that species, whereas nuSSU and nuSLU subunits besides the proper ITS, could
MON5335 did not associate with any species or clade have caused these peculiar BLAST results. In order to test
(Fig. S1). Finally, DB22671 fell at the base of a com- this, we repeated the local BLASTn approach with the full
plex formed by U. fulvoreagens (Räsänen) Räsänen, sequence of 10,050 bases, instead of just using the ITS
U. glabrescens and U. pacificana, without support, close portion that led the results reported above (see Table 3).
to a basal grade of specimens originally identified as Indeed, using only the ITS partition of the Usnea sub-
U. diplotypus Vain., U. glabrescens and U. substerilis, fusca accession in the local BLAST reference database
all from Europe (Kelly et al. 2011; Saag et al. 2011), but resulted in just two hits among all 15 query sequences,
relabeled U. pacificana (Mark et al. 2016; Lücking et al. and only one representing the highest max score (Table 3;
2020c). Phylogenetically, the Colombian sample would DB22615). In contrast, using the full accession produced
therefore be identified as U. aff. pacificana. highest-scoring hits for no less than ten and lower-scoring
Overall, our phylogenetic analysis associated six sam- hits for three additional query sequences relative to this
ples with sequenced species-level clades and left nine accession (Table 4). This result underlines that reference
samples orphaned. Compared to the BLAST approaches, sequence length strongly influences the scoring parame-
phylogenetic analysis revealed another five names as ters even if percentage identity is low, in this case ranging
potentially matching targets. Notably, of the seven sam- between 92.6% and 98.4% (Table 4). Unfortunately, the
ples that grouped within existing clades with support, all practice of submitting ITS together with the nuSSU or
Figure 4. Best-scoring maximum likelihood tree (circle cladogram) of Usnea s.str. based on the ITS barcoding marker. The positions of the
Colombian query sequences are highlighted. For exact labels, branch lengths, and bootstrap support, see Fig. S1. The query sequences that had
Usnea subfusca (MG262534) as best NCBI BLAST hit are indicated in purple.
nuLSU or both is not rare. For Usnea, we found this phylogenies. Ignoring such concatenated accessions in
for four more Usnea accessions, all apparently from the BLAST searches would not solve this issue, as they do
same study cluster (U. certatina, KY033353; U. halei, contain the unique information for the ITS for the under-
MG252375; U. pennsylvanica Motyka, KY114892; lying taxa, which would be missed. Using a filter such
U. subscabrosa, MG242037). Notably, three of these also as ITSx (Bengtsson-Palme et al. 2013) could potentially
appeared as BLAST hits in our searches (KY033353, address this problem, but it cannot currently be superim-
MG252375, MG242037), although phylogenetic analysis posed on NCBI BLAST searches, a problem that needs to
showed them to be unrelated to our query sequences. be circumvented with local BLAST approaches (Tedersoo
Our findings demonstrate that the practice of con- et al. 2015).
catenated submissions under a single accession should
be avoided, as it leads to artifactual, misleading BLAST Integrative taxonomy and comparison of methods.
results when involving the ITS as a fungal barcoding As the last step, we combined the phylogenetic analysis
marker (Schoch et al. 2012; Lücking et al. 2020a). The with the phenotypic and chemical characters of the under-
nuclear small subunit (nuSSU), the ITS, and the nuclear lying samples using identification tools (Clerc 1987, 2004,
large subunit (nuLSU) should be deposited as sepa- 2006, 2007; Gerlach et al. 2017, 2019, 2020; Halonen
rate markers, also because they are typically used in 2000; Halonen et al. 1998, 1999; Herrera-Campos 2016;
a different context, e.g., ITS mostly for species delim- Herrera-Campos et al. 2001; Mark et al. 2016; Ohmura
itation approaches, and nuSSS and nuLSU for broader 2001, 2012; Randlane et al. 2009; Saag et al. 2011; Truong
Table 4. Local (BioEdit) BLASTn results for 13 of the 15 query ITS sequences using the ‘Usnea ITS Barcoding Release 1.0’ provided by Lücking
et al. (2020c) after adding the full reference sequence (10,050 bases) of Usnea subfusca (MG262534). Only the best hits down to U. subfusca
(MG262534) are given for each query sequence, i.e. ten times the latter appeared as best hit based on max score, once as second (MON5866),
fourth (MON5349), and sixth each (MON6230). MS = Maximum score; PI = Percentage identity. Not that max score was generally much higher
for this reference sequence than compared to local BLASTn without including this long accession (see Table 3).
Query Local BLASTn hits (string) MS PI

DB22576 Usnea_subfusca_MG262534_USA_Lendemer-46309-rDNA-cistron 1098 98.4%
MON5335 Usnea_subfusca_MG262534_USA_Lendemer-46309-rDNA-cistron 1078 98.0%
MON5349 Usnea_spec_MT553280_Jamaica_JAM-053 989 98.8%
Usnea_aranea_JQ837293_Ecuador_ID-121 979 100%
Usnea_subfusca_MG262534_USA_Lendemer-46309-rDNA-cistron 938 96.1%
MON5866 Usnea_aff-subpectinata_JQ837295_Ecuador_ID-133 969 99,6%
MON6230 Usnea_aff-ceratina_KY033353_USA_ID-Lendemer-46119 914 97.1%
Usnea_halei_MG252375_USA_ID-46374 906 97.1%
Usnea_spec-20_MK010860_Brazil_ID-214376209 896 96.7%
Usnea_flammea_MK811847_Norway_ID-O-L-197827 890 96.5%
& Clerc 2016; Truong et al. 2013a, b; Vareschi 2001) and using a the curated ‘Usnea ITS Barcoding Release 1.0’
digital information on types available from JSTOR Global (Lücking et al. 2020c) doubled the success rate to 47%,
Plants (https://plants.jstor.org; Ryan 2018). Based on this whereas with phylogenetic analysis, we obtained a suc-
approach, we arrived at the identifications presented and cess rate of 80%. However, only integrative taxonomy,
discussed below in the taxonomic section. A name was i.e., comparing phylogenetic placement with phenotype,
given to a specimen when it was associated with the resulted in ultimately reliable identifications, although
clade representing that name according to Lücking et al. only three of the 15 samples could be given a definite
(2020c) and the phenotype characters, including medul- name and the remaining 12 samples represented distinct,
lary chemistry, provided a fit. When no name could be yet unnamed species (see below).
given to a specimen, we employed qualifiers (‘cf.’, ‘aff.’) Thus, while DNA barcoding might seem a fast track
denoting either the most closely related taxon based on the to species identification, integrative taxonomy is still far
phylogeny or the most similar taxon based on phenotype superior in accuracy and precision. As the example of
and medullary chemistry. the immediate correct identification of U. wasmuthii and
When comparing the various approaches, from default the correct identification of U. aranea and U. tenuicorti-
NCBI BLAST to local BLAST using a curated reference cata after correction of reference sequence identifications
data set, to phylogenetic analysis, and finally to integrative show, this might eventually change when a large number
taxonomy, we found a strongly progressive improvement of species has been sequenced and sequence identifica-
in the identification results (Fig. 5). Setting the results tions correctly reflect current taxonomy and nomenclature.
from the integrative taxonomy as standard (i.e., 100%), We also found that percentage identity was a bet-
the NCBI BLASTn based on reference sequence identifi- ter predictor of phylogenetic placement than max score,
cations as originally submitted performed poorly, leading although the latter is generally used to sort BLAST results
to only one correct identification (7% success rate). The (Menlove et al. 2009; Lücking et al. 2020a). In the present
same BLAST approach, but with corrected identifications case, in only five out of 15 cases the highest scoring hit
provided by Lücking et al. (2020c) offered two taxonomi- was congruent with phylogenetic placement, whereas in
cally and three phylogenetically correct identifications, the ten cases, the hit with the highest percentage identity
latter with names that had to be adjusted with integrative corresponded best to the phylogenetic placement. Among
taxonomy (see below). Giving one point to taxonomically the seven query sequences that clustered with support
correct identifications (matching clade and precise name) in an existing clade, only in three instances reference
and half a point to phylogenetically correct identifications sequences in that clade also appeared among the best
(matching clade, but name not resolved), this approach BLAST hits (compare Table 2; Fig. S1). This suggests that
thus had a success rate of 23% (Fig. 5). Local BLAST in the absence of reference sequences corresponding to
Figure 5. Identification results for the 15 Colombian query samples using different approaches with increasing complexity and precision. Dark
purple = precise identifications with fully named species; pale purple = precise identifications with provisionally named species; beige = precise
identifications with fully or provisionally named species but with revised identifications when incorporating phenotype; white = imprecise or
wrong identifications either caused by reference sequence mislabeling or absence of potential matches ≥ 98.5%.
the same or closely related species, the best BLAST hits correspond to species already reported from the coun-
may be misleading in terms of phylogenetic relationships try, between 60% and 40% would be new records. By
and not represent the most closely related sequence in the extension, the 80 reported species may represent between
reference data set. Notably, the three query sequences 40% and 60% of the species of Usnea actually present
that unambiguously blasted with the corresponding spe- in Colombia, and we would therefore predict a total of
cies in a strict sense (DB22576, DB22671, MON5349) between 133 and 200 species (Fig. 6). This number is
had percentage identity values between 99.3% and 100% not unrealistic given that similarly high figures have been
(Table 2). In comparison, there were three reference demonstrated for other macrolichen genera such as Cora
sequences (all for DB22671) that had a percentage iden- and Sticta (Moncada et al. 2014; Lücking et al. 2017b)
tity between 98.6% and 99.3%, but did result as the most and also considering the fact that most of the known
closely related sequences in the phylogenetic analysis specimens of Usnea reported from the country, including
(compare Table 2 and Fig. S1). This suggests that 98.5%
as default value to define species hypotheses (Abarenkov
et al. 2010; Kõljalg et al. 2013, 2019; Irinyi et al. 2015;
Jeewon & Hyde 2016; Nilsson et al. 2019) may be too
low and values between 99% and 99.5% may be more
realistic, a result also found in other studies (Edgar 2018;
Lücking et al. 2020c).
Richness prediction. Comparison with the 80 species

of Usnea s.lat. reported for Colombia (Sipman & Agu-
irre-C. 2016; Lücking et al. 2020c; Moncada et al. 2020)
revealed that this barcoding exercise only included two
previously reported species that were identified with
certainty, namely U. aranea and U. wasmuthii. A third
identification, U. tenuicorticata, represents a new record
for Colombia, although material previously reported under
the name U. cornuta may belong here (see below). Three
samples are probably conspecific with taxa reported from
Colombia under the names U. columbiana, U. concinna,
and U. fragilescens, but the Colombian material may not
actually represent these species in the strict sense (see
below). Three other specimens could represent U. fruti-
cans, U. jelskii, and U. setulosa, but these potential identi-
fications could not be confirmed (see below). Thus, if we Figure 6. Prediction of the number of species of Usnea in Colombia
assume that the 15 Colombian query samples represent based on the estimated overlap between reported taxa and those iden-
15 different species (see below) and between six and nine tified in the barcoding exercise.
12 of the 15 barcoding samples, are from the broader area the numerous soralia with isidiomorphs (Fig. 8). Halo-
around Bogotá (Sipman & Aguirre-C. 2016; Moncada nen et al. (1998) listed Usnea nidulans Motyka, a taxon
et al. 2020; this paper), whereas much of the country has described from Argentina (Motyka 1938) and recently
not been well sampled for lichens in general. reported for Colombia (Diaz-Escandón et al. 2016) as
a shrubby, sorediate species with psoromic acid. The iso-
Integrative taxonomy of the barcoded type in H (Argentina, Dusén 98; https://plants.jstor.org/
samples stable/viewer/10.5555/al.ap.specimen.h9508076) agrees
well with the Colombian material in the small soralia with
Usnea aranea Truong & P. Clerc scattered isidiomorphs and the numerous, yet irregular
Usnea aranea Truong & P. Clerc, Lichenologist 48: 77. 2016. fibrils. Truong & Clerc (2016) did not discuss U. nidu-
lans as a potential name for U. aranea, even though they
Type: Bolivia, La Paz, Truong 2822 (LPB – holotype;
G – isotype; photograph seen: Truong & Clerc 2016: 78, fig. 3).
included a psoromic acid chemotype in that species.
Since our data resulted in almost identical ITS for the
Notes. Usnea aranea is a recently described species, Ecuadorian sample (with stictic acid) and the Colombian
characterized by a shrubby to rarely subpendent thal- specimen (with psoromic acid), the relationship between
lus with a papillose surface and minute soralia forming U. aranea and U. nidulans should be examined further.
isidiomorphs; besides Bolivia (type), Peru, Ecuador, and
Specimen examined. COLOMBIA. Cundinamarca. Subacho-
Venezuela, it was also reported for Colombia, but without que, Vereda Pantano de Arce, Páramo el Tablazo; 05°00′37.0″N,
sequence data (Truong & Clerc 2016). The type contains 74°12′21.6″W, 3472 m; paramo, on roadbank; 29 October
the stictic acid chemosyndrome, but the authors listed 2016, D. Rivera & L. Salinas 87 [B (B 60 0200047); UDBC
four different chemotypes: stictic acid (most specimens), (C-0020645)].
psoromic acid, an unknown depside, or no medullary sub-
stances. The type had no sequence data associated with it, Usnea aff. barbata (L.) F.H. Wigg.
but the chemistry of the two sequenced specimens, from Usnea barbata (L.) F.H. Wigg., Prim. Fl. Holsat.: 91. 1780.
Ecuador (JQ837293) and Peru (KP668964), was also given
as stictic acid (Truong et al. 2013a; Truong & Clerc 2016). Type: Dillenius, Historia Muscorum, Tab. XII, fig. 6, 1742;
lectotype fide Jørgensen et al. (1994: 372). Sweden, Vastman-
ITS-based barcoding using NCBI BLAST of the
land, Nordin s.n. (UPS – epitype fide Jørgensen et al. (1994: 372;
Colombian sample (MON5349; Rivera & Salinas 87) digital image seen: https://plants.jstor.org/stable/viewer/10.5555/
gave two potential matches with high percentage simi- al.ap.specimen.g00293431).
larity from Jamaica (Table 2), but without identification.
Using local BLAST with the updated data set identified Notes. This material (MON5335; Rivera & Salinas 72)
the Colombian sample as Usnea aranea (Table 3). Phy- was identified as close to the Usnea barbata-intermedia
logenetic analysis placed the sample also within that spe- complex through barcoding (Table 2, 3) and clustered
cies, together with the two unidentified, recently submitted at the base of this complex in the phylogenetic analysis
accessions from Jamaica (Fig. S1). (Fig. 4; Fig. S1). The pendent growth, small soralia and
The Colombian sample corresponded to the psoro- numerous fibrils (Fig. 9) agree with U. barbata, whereas
mic acid chemotype (Fig. 7) and otherwise agreed well the chemistry (stictic acid; Fig. 7; medulla K+ yellow
with the Bolivian type (Truong & Clerc 2016: 78, fig. 3) turning orange) differed from the reported chemotypes for
in morphology, in particular the papillose surface and this complex (salazinic and protocetraric acid or rarely
Figure 7. TLC plate (solvent C) of the 15 Usnea samples, using Hypotrachyna laevigata and H. reducens (two different specimens each) as
controls. The numbers indicate the Rf values in solvent C according to Huneck & Yoshimura (1996).
Figure 8. Usnea aranea (MON5349; Rivera & Salinas 87). A – general habit; B – detail (base); C – section showing CMA. Scale = 1 mm.
no medullary substances; Randlane et al. 2009; Mark Notes. The specimen under study (MON5795; Moncada
et al. 2016). & Lücking 11069) had no close match in the barcoding
We were not able to provide a more precise identifi- exercise, but clustered with support with material iden-
cation for this taxon. According to Truong et al. (2013b), tified as Usnea dodgei, a species described from Costa
U. perhispidella J. Steiner could be a possible fit, but Rica and widespread in the Neotropics, with a shrubby
the material does not cluster with that species phyloge- to subpendent habit, a papillose surface, soredia, and
netically. Another similar species is U. setulosa Motyka, a stictic acid chemistry (Truong et al. 2013b). The
described from Cuba (Motyka 1938) and also reported sequenced specimens from Brazil produced norstictic
from Colombia (Sipman & Aguirre-C. 2016; Ramírez- and salazinic acid (Gerlach et al. 2019), a rare chemo-
Morán et al. 2016). Two isotypes of U. setulosa availa- type according to Truong et al. (2013b), so it is not
ble on JSTOR Global Plants from S [https://plants.jstor. clear whether they actually represent U. dodgei in the
org/stable/viewer/10.5555/al.ap.specimen.s-f159257; strict sense.
https://plants.jstor.org/stable/viewer/10.5555/al.ap.speci- The Colombian specimen only produced terpenoids
men.s-f152856] agree perfectly with the Colombian mate- (Fig. 7) in a pattern similar to U. deformis Motyka, but
rial in morphology. According to P. Clerc (pers. comm. that species additionally contains the stictic acid chemo-
2020), the type material is mixed, containing either stictic syndrome (Truong et al. 2013b), whereas depsidones
or salazinic acid. are absent in the Colombian material. Morphologically,
the Colombian sample was characterized by a rather
Specimen examined. COLOMBIA. Cundinamarca. Subacho-
robust, subpendent thallus with numerous, conspicuous
que, Vereda Pantano de Arce, Páramo el Tablazo; 05°00′37.0″N,
74°12′21.6″W, 3472 m; paramo, on roadbank; 29 October
tubercles and minute soralia formed along the terminal
2016, D. Rivera & L. Salinas 72 [B (B 60 0200046); UDBC branches (Fig. 10). Truong et al. (2013b) reported several
(C-0020630)]. pendent species with chemotypes producing terpenoids
only, but none of them fits the Colombian material mor-
Usnea aff. dodgei Motyka phologically.
Usnea dodgei Motyka, Lich. Gen. Usnea Monogr. 2: 572, 610. Specimen examined. COLOMBIA. Cundinamarca, Bogotá,
1938. Vereda Pasquilla, near El Carmen; 04°26′18.5″N, 74°10′29″W,
Type: Costa Rica, Cartago, Polakowsky s.n. (LBL – holo- 3348 m; remnant of altoandine cloud forest, on tree bark;
type; S – isotype; digital image seen: https://plants.jstor.org/ 6 November 2017, B. Moncada & R. Lücking 11069 [B (B 60
stable/viewer/10.5555/al.ap.specimen.s-f158993). 0200048); UDBC (C-0023160)].
Figure 9. Usnea aff. barbata (MON5335; Rivera & Salinas 72). A – general habit; B – detail; C – section showing CMA. Scale = 1 mm.
Figure 10. Usnea aff. dodgei (MON5795; Moncada & Lücking 11069). A – general habit; B – detail; C – section showing CMA. Scale = 1 mm.
Usnea aff. fragilescens Hav. ex Lynge samples forming separate, in part unrelated lineages (Lück-
Usnea fragilescens Hav. ex Lynge, Stud. Lich. Fl. Norway: ing et al. 2020c). The Colombian specimen (DB22608;
230. 1921. Moncada & Lücking 41047a) clustered close to two
Type: Norway, Havaas s.n. (O – lectotype fide Clerc 1987:
samples (JQ837309, JQ837310) sequenced from Bolivia
491, not seen). (Truong et al. 2013a), all three forming a paraphyletic
grade in a supported relationship basal to U. fragilescens
Notes. Usnea fragilescens is characterized by a shrubby s.str. (Fig. 4; Fig. S1), but likely representing a differ-
to subpendent growth, soralia that become rather large, ent species with deviating chemistry (see Lücking et al.
but remain discrete, and a medullary chemistry with stictic 2020c). While the Colombian sample agreed in the large
acid (Clerc 1987; Herrera-Campos et al. 2001; Randlane soralia with U. fragilescens, the soralia were heavily
et al. 2009). Two varieties are usually distinguished: var. covered by isidiomorphs, giving the specimen a pecu-
fragilescens which is typically saxicolous, and var. mollis liar appearance (Fig. 11). The two Bolivian specimens
(Vain.) P. Clerc (Clerc 1987), which is less elongate and produced salazinic acid (Truong et al. 2013a) and the
more tufted and produces more numerous isidiomorphs. Colombian sample protocetraric acid (Fig. 7). We were
However, given the presumed wide distribution of both unable to match an existing name to this material.
morphs (Clerc 1987; Herrera-Campos et al. 2001; Rand- Specimen examined. COLOMBIA. Bogotá, D.C. Vereda
lane et al. 2009), their recognition at infraspecies level is Pasquilla, 2 km SW of Pasquilla, along rural access road;
not appropriate, since one would expect some degree of 04°25′52″N, 74°10′19″W, 3365 m; disturbed shrubby subpar-
biogeographic differentiation between infraspecific lin- amo remnants bordering pasture, on tree root; 3 December 2015;
eages. Therefore, if the two forms indeed represent dif- B. Moncada & R. Lücking (with D. Cabrera & J. Muñoz) 41047a
ferent taxa, they should be recognized as separate species. [B (B 60 0200039), JBB].
Unfortunately, the combination U. mollis (Neck.) Baumg.
Usnea aff. fruticans Motyka (1)
already exists in the genus for a different taxon, and the
replacement name U. malacea Zahlbr. [non U. malacea Usnea aff. fruticans Motyka (2)
(Stirt.) Zahlbr. ≡ Protousnea malacea (Stirt.) Krog] is Usnea fruticans Motyka, Lich. Gen. Usnea Monogr. 3: 633,
illegitimate (Clerc 1987). 646. 1938.
Molecular data suggest that Usnea fragilescens is Type: Peru, Junín, Weberbauer s.n. (B, not seen, probably
a European species, with North and South American lost).
Figure 11. Usnea aff. fragilescens (DB22608; Moncada & Lücking 41047a). A – general habit; B – detail; C – section showing CMA. Scale = 1 mm.
Notes. This group of two specimens (MON6140; Mon- stable/viewer/10.5555/al.ap.specimen.m0197296; https://

cada & Patiño 11399; MON6229; Moncada & Patiño plants.jstor.org/stable/viewer/10.5555/al.ap.specimen.
11272a) did not result in close ITS barcoding matches and m0054431] was annotated as U. fruticans Motyka by
formed a separate clade on a very long stem branch in the C. Truong, but they appear to represent two separate taxa
phylogenetic analysis (Fig. 4; Fig. S1). The specimens did morphologically, much in accordance with the morpholog-
not produce soralia or apothecia, but were notable by the ical differences between MON6140 (corresponding more
very thick basal branches and the dense papillae on the to U. macrura) and MON6229 (corresponding more to
branch surface, plus the occasional formation of isidio- U. sulphurascens). We have not seen the type material
morphs (Figs 12–13). Both specimens produced terpenoids of U. fruticans, but since it was originally reported from
and one also possibly squamatic acid (Fig. 7), although Central and South America (Motyka 1938), it is likely
the spot reaction (C+ yellowish, KC+ orange-yellow) does conspecific with one of the two lineages. According to the
not fit. The two samples differed considerable in their ITS annotations made by C. Truong, the original material of
sequence patterns, with 26 substitutions and two indels U. macrura and U. sulphurascens contains unidentified
(97.0% similarity), indicating that they represented two terpenoids, which by extension is then likely also the
closely related, yet separate species. This was supported chemistry of U. fruticans and makes MON6140 the best
by their different chemistry (Fig. 7) and also the differ- candidate for representing the latter taxon.
ences in the %CMA and A/M ratios: %CMA = 13/24/26
and A/M ≈ 1 in MON6140 and %CMA = 17/17/31 and Specimens examined. Usnea aff. fruticans 1 (MON6140):
A/M ≈ 2 in MON6229 (Figs 12–13), although two spec- COLOMBIA. Putumayo. Santiago, Páramo de los Frailes, right
imens is not a statistical sample. side of road from Pasto to Mocoa; 01°08′36″N, 77°05′49″W,
2970 m; subparamo dominated by Blechnum stipitellatum and
Morphologically both specimens are somehow rem-
Espeletia pycnophylla; 25 February 2018, B. Moncada & A. L.
iniscent of U. jamaicensis which, however, differs in
Patiño 11399 [B (B 60 0200050), UDBC (C-0023390)]. Usnea
medullary chemistry, producing salazinic (and proto- aff. fruticans 2 (MON6229): COLOMBIA. Putumayo. San
cetraric) acid (Herrera-Campos et al. 2001). Also quite Francisco, Vereda Siberia, surroundings of television station;
similar are U. macrura Vareschi and U. sulphurascens 01°08′44″N, 76°50′43″W, 2805 m; partially preserved altoan-
Motyka & Vareschi, both described from Venezuela (Var- dine cloud forest, on bark of Pinus radiata; 24 February 2018,
eschi 2001). Original material of both taxa available on B. Moncada & A. L. Patiño 11272a [B (B 60 0200052), UDBC
JSTOR Global Plants from M [https://plants.jstor.org/ (C-0023632)].
Figure 12. Usnea aff. fruticans 1 (MON6140; Moncada & Patiño 11399). A – general habit; B – detail; C – section showing CMA. Scale = 1 mm.
Figure 13. Usnea aff. fruticans 2 (MON6229; Moncada & Patiño 11272a). A – general habit; B – detail; C – section showing CMA. Scale = 1 mm.
Usnea aff. fulvoreagens (Räsänen) Räsänen phylogenetically distinct from either of the two U. fulvore-
Usnea fulvoreagens (Räsänen) Räsänen, Lich. Fenn. Exs.: no. agens s.str. subclades, not due to unique substitutions, but
13. 1935. because it shared two substitutions with one subclade and
five substitutions with the other (File S1). This denotes
Type: Russia, Karelia, Räsänen s.n. (H, specimen ‘A’ – pro-
another shortcoming of the BLAST approach. While this
posed conserved type fide Halonen & Ahti 2002: 183; digital
image seen: https://plants.jstor.org/stable/viewer/10.5555/al.ap. query sequence would not have a best-scoring match in
specimen.h9510932). either of the two U. fulvoreagens subclades, in a phy-
logenetic context it would have a 100% match with the
Notes. This material (DB22671; Moncada & Lücking clade as a whole if within-clade sequence variation could
41099) blasted most closely with Usnea glabrescens and be taken into account.
U. pacificana based on percentage similarity (Table 2, 3) A shrubby, sorediate species with norstictic and salaz-
and clustered at the base of the U. fulvoreagens-gla- inic acid described from South America (Chile) and also
brescens-pacificana complex (Fig. 4; Fig. S1) as defined reported from Colombia is U. jelskii Motyka (1938; Clerc
by Lücking et al. (2020c). Usnea pacificana was described 2004; Sipman & Aguirre-C. 2016). It forms part of the
for a species from the Pacific Northwest (Halonen 2000), U. cornuta complex (Gerlach et al. 2019). The type pro-
with a shrubby to (sub-)pendent habit, punctiform soralia duces salazinic and protocetraric acid, but other material
producing isidiomorphs, and a medullary chemistry with has been described as containing norstictic instead of
squamatic, baeomycesic and barbatic acid. It is similar to protocetraric acid. The Colombian material is not well-de-
U. fulvoreagens and U. glabrescens, which chiefly differ veloped and in part attacked by a parasite, but it fits the
in chemistry (norstictic with or without stictic, salazinic, general morphology of the U. cornuta aggregate. Gerlach
and/or protocetraric acid) and can be distinguished from et al. (2019) reported two other species in that aggregate
each other by large, eventually excavate (fulvoreagens) with norstictic and salazinic acid, U. densirostra Taylor
vs. punctiform (glabrescens) soralia (Halonen et al. 1998, and U. dodgei, but the Colombian specimen did not cluster
1999; Randlane et al. 2009). The Colombian specimen with these phylogenetically.
had large soralia (Fig. 14) and a medullary chemistry The status and typification of the name Usnea fulvore-
of norstictic and salazinic acid, with traces of barbatic agens is unclear. When establishing U. fragilescens var.
acid (Fig. 7), thus agreeing best with U. fulvoreagens, fulvoreagens Räsänen, the author (Räsänen 1931) cited
the only of the three names not appearing in the BLAST three localities, all in Estonia. According to Halonen et al.
exercise (Table 2, 3). However, the specimen appeared (1999), one syntype represented U. subfloridana Stirt.,
Figure 14. Usnea aff. fulvoreagens (DB22671; Moncada & Lücking 41099). A – general habit; B – detail; C – section showing CMA. Scale = 1 mm.
whereas the other syntypes could not be located. Halonen Specimen examined. COLOMBIA. Bogotá, D.C. Vereda
& Ahti (2002) therefore proposed to conserve the name Pasquilla, 2 km SW of Pasquilla, along rural access road;
U. fragilescens var. fulvoreagens with a conserved type, 04°25′52″N, 74°10′19″W, 3365 m; disturbed shrubby subpar-
while at the same time designating the syntype representing amo remnants bordering pasture, on tree bark; 3 December
2015; B. Moncada & R. Lücking (with D. Cabrera & J. Muñoz)
U. subfloridana as lectotype of U. fragilescens var. fulvore-
41099 [B (B 60 0200044), JBB].
agens, a superfluous designation making the conservation
proposal ambiguous (Tavares 2002; Gams 2004). When Usnea aff. glabrata (Ach.) Vain.
elevating the taxon to species level, Räsänen (1935) had
Usnea glabrata (Ach.) Vain., Ann. Acad. Sci. Fenn., Ser. A 6(7):
added localities from Finland; shortly after, he listed further 7. 1915.
collections from Finland (Räsänen 1939), from an area later
Type: Switzerland, Schleicher 318 (H-ACH 1854A –
annexed by the USSR. One of these latter collections is the holotype; digital image seen: https://plants.jstor.org/stable/
one proposed as the conserved type (Halonen & Ahti 2002). viewer/10.5555/al.ap.specimen.h9502951).
It is, however, unclear whether a conservation proposal is
required to designate this material as type. The proposed Notes. This material (DB22625; Moncada & Lücking
conserved type had been collected by Räsänen in 1923, 41058c) formed part of a fully supported clade (100%
eight years before he formally established the name. The bootstrap support) consisting of two specimens (the
label bears both the names U. fulvoreagens and U. fragiles- other being DB22609; Moncada & Lücking 41048a; see
cens var. fulvoreagens (as ‘Syn.’) in Räsänen’s handwrit- below under Usnea aff. wasmuthii), with minor differ-
ing, implying that he identified the specimen after 1935, ences in the base patterns between the two samples in
likely for his later publication (Räsänen 1939). Therefore, two positions (File S1). Despite their close relationship,
although the material had been collected in 1923, it is not the two specimens were morphologically and chemically
possible to argue that Räsänen may have used this mate- distinct (Figs 7, 15, 21), DB22625 had a shrubby habit
rial, without citing, when describing U. fragilescens var. with slightly constricted branch bases, a smooth surface
fulvoreagens, in which case it could have been designated lacking papillae, medium-sized soralia becoming exca-
as lectotype (ICN Art. 9.3, 9.4). However, since two of vate, no isidiomorphs and scarce fibrils, and produced pro-
the original syntypes have not yet been found (while the tocetraric acid (Fig. 7). The specimen was also attached
third represents another species), it is technically possible by an unidentified lichenicolous fungus mostly near the
to designate the proposed conserved type as a neotype base (Fig. 15). The phenotype features would point to
without a conservation proposal. U. glabrata (Halonen et al. 1999; Randlane et al. 2009),
Figure 15. Usnea aff. glabrata (DB22625; Moncada & Lücking 41058c). A – general habit; B–C – detail. Scale = 1 mm.
but the specimen was not phylogenetically related to the calls in otherwise uniform sites of the ITS detected in the
clade containing U. glabrata (Fig. S1). Ecuadorian sample (Lücking et al. 2020c). The specimen
formed numerous, conspicuous soralia particularly along
Specimen examined. COLOMBIA. Bogotá, D.C. Vereda
the terminal branches, numerous papillae and fibrils (the
Pasquilla, 2 km SW of Pasquilla, along rural access road;
04°25′52″N, 74°10′19″W, 3365 m; disturbed shrubby subpar-
latter mostly along subterminal branches), together with
amo remnants bordering pasture, on fence post; 3 December a thick cortex, very thin and compact medulla, and thick
2015; B. Moncada & R. Lücking (with D. Cabrera & J. Muñoz) central axis, and a blackened base (Fig. 16). TLC demon-
41058c [B (B 60 0200042), JBB]. strated weak spots corresponding to stictic and salazinic
acid (Fig. 7). Although generally agreeing with Usnea
Usnea aff. silesiaca Motyka silesiaca, the Colombian (and Ecuadorian) material is
Usnea silesiaca Motyka, Wydawnictwa Muzeum Slaskiego phylogenetically unrelated to the latter.
w Katowicach 3(2): 19. 1930. A potential name for this material is Usnea colum-
Type: Poland, Motyka s.n. (LBL – holotype, not seen). biana Motyka ex Räsänen which, despite its name, was
described from Chile (Räsänen 1936). According to Clerc
Notes. Usnea silesiaca is a European and North Ameri- (2006), this is a shrubby species producing soredia, with
can species distinguished by a shrubby to (sub-)pendent a black base and with a salazinic acid chemistry. We were
thallus with annular cracks and a blackened base, more able to confirm the morphology of the latter by check-
or less numerous papillae and fibrils, conspicuous soralia, ing a digital image of the lectotype on JSTOR Global
a thick cortex, thin and compact medulla, and thick axis, Plants [https://plants.jstor.org/stable/viewer/10.5555/
and salazinic acid as medullary substance (Clerc 2004; al.ap.specimen.h9500229]. However, in lieu of sequence
Randlane et al. 2009). A single accession from Ecuador data from Chilean material, it remains unclear whether
(JQ837331) identified with that name and also producing the sequenced specimens from Colombia and Ecuador
salazinic acid (Truong et al. 2013a) fell elsewhere in the represent U. columbiana.
global ITS tree and did not represent that species (Lücking The report of Usnea columbiana from Colombia (Sip-
et al. 2020c). man & Aguirre-C. 2016) suggests that material identified
The Colombian specimen (DB22615; Moncada with that name had previously been collected in that coun-
& Lücking 41047b) clustered with the Ecuadorian sam- try. However, these authors did not cite voucher material
ple with support (Fig. 4; Fig. S1), the differences in and so it is possible that they included this name in the
individual branch lengths likely caused by aberrant base list in the erroneous assumption that, based on the epithet,
Figure 16. Usnea aff. silesiaca (DB22615; Moncada & Lücking 41047b). A – general habit; B – detail; C – section showing CMA. Scale = 1 mm.
it had originally been described from Colombia, which name U. cornuta (Truong et al. 2013a), formed a small,
is not the case. separate clade, labeled U. aff. subpectinata in Lücking
et al. (2020c).
Two samples from Colombia (DB22672; Moncada
& Lücking 41100; MON5866; Moncada et al. 10870)
amo remnants bordering pasture, on tree root; 3 December 2015; fell into that separate clade, clustering with the accession
B. Moncada & R. Lücking (with D. Cabrera & J. Muñoz) 41047b from Ecuador (JQ837295) with strong support, whereas
[B (B 60 0200040), JBB]. the accession from Peru (JQ837298) formed an early
diverging lineage in that clade without support (Fig. 4;
Usnea aff. subpectinata Stirt. 1 Fig. S1). Both Colombian samples agree with the type of
Usnea aff. subpectinata Stirt. 2 Usnea subpectinata (Clerc 2004) in medullary chemistry,
Usnea subpectinata Stirt., Scott. Natural. 6(3): 108. 1881.
containing three to four (Fig. 7) of the five substances
(norstictic, stictic, menegazziaic, constictic, and salazinic
Type: Scotland, New Galloway, McAndrew s.n. (BM – lec-
acids) reported for the latter (Clerc 2004). The Ecuadorian
totype fide Clerc 2004: 80; digital image seen: https://plants.
jstor.org/stable/viewer/10.5555/al.ap.specimen.bm001106012). sample also contained stictic acid, whereas the Peruvian
specimen produced galbinic acid (Truong et al. 2013a).
Notes. Clerc (2004) synonymized Usnea subpectinata Notably, one Colombian specimen (DB22672; Moncada
with the widespread U. cornuta Körb., a shrubby, sore- & Lücking 41100) was densely sorediate with large soralia
diate taxon (Randlane et al. 2009; Gerlach et al. 2019). especially along the terminal branches, as typical for this
The latter has been shown to represent a complex of species complex (Fig. 17), whereas the other (MON5866;
numerous, in part unrelated lineages, each well-char- Moncada et al. 10870) was apotheciate (Fig. 18).
acterized by medullary chemistry (Truong et al. 2013a; It is currently unclear whether this northern Andean
Gerlach et al. 2019, 2020; Lücking et al. 2020c). Based clade represents a single or perhaps up to four species.
on these results, U. subpectinata, a species originally At least the Peruvian sample, with deviating chemistry
described from Great Britain (Stirton 1881), was resur- and lack of support as part of this clade, appears to be
rected for a clade including mostly samples from Brazil, a separate taxon. The remaining three samples contain two
but also one accession from Europe (France; Gerlach sorediate and one apotheciate specimen and are not homo-
et al. 2019, 2020). Two accessions from Ecuador and Peru geneous phylogenetically. The ITS-based identity matrix
(JQ837295, JQ837298), originally deposited under the between the four accessions (Table 5) would separate the
Figure 17. Usnea aff. subpectinata 1 (DB22672; Moncada & Lücking 41100). A – general habit; B – detail; C – section showing CMA. Scale = 1 mm.
sorediate Colombian sample (DB22672) from the soredi- Specimens examined. Usnea aff. subpectinata 1 (DB22672):
ate Ecuadorian specimen (JQ837295), whereas the latter COLOMBIA. Bogotá, D.C. Vereda Pasquilla, 2 km SW of Pasqui-
would appear conspecific with the apotheciate Colombian lla, along rural access road; 04°25′52″N, 74°10′19″W, 3365 m; dis-
material (MON5866). Given the morphological and chem- turbed shrubby subparamo remnants bordering pasture; 3 December
2015; B. Moncada & R. Lücking (with D. Cabrera & J. Muñoz)
ical congruence between the two sorediate specimens, one
41100 [B (B 60 0200045), JBB]. Usnea aff. subpectinata 2
could also consider all three to belong to the same species (MON5866): Cundinamarca. La Calera, Parque Nacional Natural
in a broad sense, likely reflecting a complex situation as Chingaza, 2 km before Valle de los Frailejones; 04°36′38.8″N,
found in some other so-called species pairs, such as Usnea 73°42′54.4″W, 3035 m; paramo, on twig of shrub; 27 Febru-
florida (L.) F.H. Wigg. versus U. subfloridana Stirt. (Mark ary 2017, B. Moncada, R. Lücking, M. Gutiérrez, J. González
et al. 2016; Lücking et al. 2020c). & R. Galindo 10870 [B (B 60 0200049), UDBC (C-0022116)].
The apotheciate specimen from Colombia (MON5866)
corresponds morphologically, anatomically and chem- Usnea tenuicorticata P. Clerc & A. Gerlach
ically to Usnea concinna Stirt., described from Brazil Usnea tenuicorticata Gerlach et al., Pl. Fung. Syst. 65(2): 288.
(Stirton 1881; Gerlach et al. 2017). Currently, there are no 2020.
sequence data for the latter, so this hypothesis cannot be Type: PORTUGAL: Madeira. Ribeiro Frio, P. Clerc s.n.
[G – holotype (G00285250); photograph seen: Gerlach et al.
tested, but the species has been reported from Colombia
2020: 289].
under the name U. radiata Stirt. (Sipman & Aguirre-C.
2016), a synonym of U. concinna (Gerlach et al. 2017; Notes. This sample (DB22638; Moncada & Lücking
Lücking et al. 2020d). 41067) clustered with strong support with a specimen
Table 5. ITS-based similarities between the four sequenced samples in the northern Andean Usnea aff. subpectinata clade.
Specimen Country Morphology Chemistry JQ837298 DB22672 MON5866 JQ837295

JQ837298 Peru sorediate galbinic – 97.3% 98.3% 97.9%
DB22672 Colombia sorediate stictic 97.3% – 98.1% 97.7%
MON5866 Colombia apotheciate norstictic, stictic 98.3% 98.1% – 99.5%
JQ837295 Ecuador sorediate stictic 97.9% 97.7% 99.5% –
Figure 18. Usnea aff. subpectinata 2 (MON5866; Moncada et al. 10870). A – general habit; B – detail; C – section showing CMA. Scale = 1 mm.
from Madeira representing the type of the recently Notes. Usnea wasmuthii is a largely European species,
described Usnea tenuicorticata, a segregate within the characterized by a mostly shrubby thallus with thick cor-
U. cornuta complex (Gerlach et al. 2019, 2020). In the tex and producing large soralia, with a complex chemistry,
study by Gerlach et al. (2019), the sample from Madeira, but mostly with barbatic acid as main medullary substance
with protocetraric acid only, formed a separate lineage (Halonen et al. 1999; Randlane et al. 2009; Saag et al.
(lineage 4) compared to the two specimens from Bra- 2011). It has also been reported from North America
zil with protocetraric and psoromic acids (lineage 2). including Mexico, northern Africa, and Asia (Halonen
In the global ITS tree, the three specimens formed an 2000; Ohmura 2001, 2012; Clerc 2007; Herrera-Campos
unsupported clade (Lücking et al. 2020c), whereas the 2016; Galinato et al. 2018). ITS data demonstrated at least
Colombian sample clustered with strong support with the one Japanese sample to represent this taxon, which could
specimen from Madeira (Fig. 4; Fig. S1). It also agreed therefore be considered as having a Northern Hemisphere
morphologically and chemically with the latter, form- distribution (Lücking et al. 2020c). Recently, Diaz-Escan-
ing shrubby thalli with small soralia with isidiomorphs dón et al. (2016) reported the species for the first time
(Fig. 19) and producing protocetraric acid (Fig. 7) as from Colombia.
a major compound. A second (minor) spot detected in the The sequenced specimen (DB22576; Moncada
Colombian specimen would fit thamnolic acid, but this & Lücking 41018b) confirms this report, as it clustered
needs to be confirmed with more material. with the Usnea wasmuthii clade (Fig. 4; Fig. S1). It is also
one of the few samples analyzed here that immediately
gave the correct identification using ITS barcoding via
NCBI BLAST (Table 2). The morphology of the material
amo remnants bordering pasture, on rock; 3 December 2015; agreed well with U. wasmuthii, in particular the large
B. Moncada & R. Lücking (with D. Cabrera & J. Muñoz) 41067 soralia and the thick cortex (Fig. 20); barbatic acid was
[B (B 60 0200043), JBB]. identified as (minor) medullary substance (Fig. 7).
Usnea wasmuthii Räsänen Specimen examined. COLOMBIA. Bogotá, D.C. Vereda

Usnea wasmuthii Räsänen, Flecht. Estl. 1: 19. 1931. 04°25′52″N, 74°10′19″W, 3365 m; disturbed shrubby subpar-
Type: Estonia, Harjumaa, Wasmuth s.n. (H – holotype; dig- amo remnants bordering pasture, on fence post; 3 December
ital image seen: https://plants.jstor.org/stable/viewer/10.5555/ 2015; B. Moncada & R. Lücking (with D. Cabrera & J. Muñoz)
al.ap.specimen.h9500427). 41018b [B (B 60 0200038), JBB].
Figure 19. Usnea tenuicorticata (DB22638; Moncada & Lücking 41067). A – general habit with inset showing CMA; B–C – detail, in C showing
soralia along terminal branches. Scale = 1 mm.
Figure 20. Usnea wasmuthii (DB22576; Moncada & Lücking 41018b). A – general habit; B – detail; C – section showing CMA. Scale = 1 mm.
Figure 21. Usnea aff. wasmuthii (DB22609; Moncada & Lücking 41048a). A – general habit; B – detail; C – section showing CMA. Scale = 1 mm.
Figure 22. Usnea sp. 1 (MON6230; Moncada & Patiño 11272b). A – general habit; B – detail (base); C – section showing CMA. Scale = 1 mm.
Usnea aff. wasmuthii Räsänen Bogotá. Teuvo Ahti, Alice Gerlach, and María de los Ángeles
Herrera-Campos helped in resolving part of the taxonomy of the
Usnea wasmuthii Räsänen, Flecht. Estl. 1: 19. 1931. study samples and the nomenclature of the underlying names,
Type: See previous entry. Jack Elix was consulted for the interpretation of some of the
TLC spots, and Andreas Beck assisted with a query for type
Notes. This material (DB22609; Moncada & Lücking specimens housed at M.
41048a) formed a fully supported clade with another spec-
imen identified as U. aff. glabrata (DB22625; Moncada
& Lücking 41058c; see above). As mentioned above, Supplementary electronic material
the two samples had minor differences in the base pat- Figure S1. Best-scoring, ITS-based maximum likelihood tree of Usnea
terns in two positions (File S1). DB22609 differed from s.str. (subgenus Usnea) showing the position of the query sequences
from Colombia. Download file
DB22625 in the partly papillose surface, the numerous
fibrils, and the soralia becoming large (Fig. 21), as well File S1. ITS alignment of Usnea s.str. (subgenus Usnea) for the phylo-
as the production of barbatic acid (minor; Fig. 7). These genetic analysis of the query sequences. Download file
characters point to U. wasmuthii, but the sample was
phylogenetically distinct from the latter, including the References
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Plant and Fungal Systematics 65(2): 358–385, 2020 ISSN 2544-7459 (print)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.35535/pfsyst-2020-0026 ISSN 2657-5000 (online)

Testing DNA barcoding in Usnea (Parmeliaceae) in Colombia

Bibiana Moncada1,3, Harrie J. M. Sipman2 & Robert Lücking2,3*

© 2020 W. Szafer Institute of Botany, Polish Academy of Sciences.

et al. (2020c). In a second step, we blasted the same

Taxon Isolate Voucher ITS Accession

Query Accession Original ID Corrected ID MS QC PI Class Inferred ID

Phylogenetic approach. The best-scoring maximum

Query Local BLASTn hits (string) MS PI Inferred ID

Query Local BLASTn hits (string) MS PI Inferred ID

Query Local BLASTn hits (string) MS PI

Richness prediction. Comparison with the 80 species

Notes. This group of two specimens (MON6140; Mon- stable/viewer/10.5555/al.ap.specimen.m0197296; https://

Specimen Country Morphology Chemistry JQ837298 DB22672 MON5866 JQ837295

Usnea wasmuthii Räsänen Specimen examined. COLOMBIA. Bogotá, D.C. Vereda

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