Evaluation of morphological variation in the lichen Diploschistes ocellatus (Ascomycota, Ostropales): Evidence from nuclear rDNA ITS sequence data

A morphologically distinct population (var. almeriensis) of the lichen spec ies Diploschistes ocellatus from southern Spain is examined using morpholog ical and molecular methods. While the morphological examination revealed so me unique features of var. almeriensis, the ITS sequence data did not suppo rt a distinction from D. ocellatus s. str. The Kishino-Hasegawa test did no t rule out trees distinguishing between the two morphotypes, although spect ral analytical data support an inclusion of var. almeriensis in D. ocellatu s. The influence of potentially erronously aligned ambiguous sites is evalu ated by analysis of different alignments. However, all alignments agree in placing all specimens of D. ocellatus together and, consequently, in the co nsensus tree D. ocellatus s. lat. forms a monophyletic clade with high boot strap support.