Parmotrema clavuliferum and P. reticulatum are independent species

Parmotrema clavuliferum (Räsänen) Streimann and P. reticulatum (Taylor) M. Choisy were once treated under the genus Rimelia (Hale and Fletcher, 1990; Kurokawa, 1991); however, based on molecular phylogenetic studies, Crespo et al. (2001) and Blanco et al. (2005) declared that Rimelia was synonymous with Parmotrema. In addi­ tion, Divakar et al. (2005) treated P. clavuliferum as re­ synonymous with Parmotrema reticulatum. Parmotrema reticulatum was first described as Par­ melia reticulata Taylor based on a specimen from Kerry, Ireland (Taylor, 1836). This species is characterized by having sorediate lobes, white reticulate­maculate on the upper surface of the lobes, black lower surfaces; simple to branched rhizines; and the presence of atranorin and salazinic acid. This species is widely distributed through­ out tropical and subtropical areas of the world. On the other hand, Parmotrema clavuliferum was described by Räsänen (1944) as Parmelia clavulefera Räsänen based on a specimen from Tahiti. Parmotrema clavuliferum is distinct in having capitate soralia on short laciniae, which are always mottled white on the lower surface, especially below the sorediate lobules. It contains atra­ norin and salazinic acid as major chemical substances. It is also widely distributed in tropical and subtropical areas of the world. Parmotrema clavuliferum and P. reticulatum have sim­ ilar morphological and chemical characteristics as shown above. It was because of these common characteristics that Hale and Fletcher (1990) synomized Parmelia cla­ vulifera as R. reticulata ( = P. reticulatum). On the other hand, P. clavuliferum is clearly distinguished from P. re­ ticulatum by capitate soralia on short laciniae, a mottled white lower surface, and the production of fatty acid and gyrophoric acid as accessory substances; and P. clavulife­ rum has been treated as a separated species by many re­ searchers (e.g. Park, 1990; Kurokawa, 1991; Moon, 1999; Moon et al., 2000; 2001; Kashiwadani et al., 2000; 2002; Kurokawa and Lai, 2001; Elix, 2001; Komine et al., 2014 under the genus Rimelia; and Streimann, 1986; Bar­ bosa et al., 2010; Ohmura et al., 2012 under the genus Parmotrema). In a phylogenetic study, Divakar et al. (2005) asserted that P. clavuliferum and P. reticulatum are synonyms be­ cause of their morphology, distribution, and formation of a monophyletic group. In contrast, Del­Prado et al. (2011) reported that the Parmotrema reticulatum ­ P. pseudore­ ticulatum complex includes several species that remain taxonomically controversial. Del­Prado et al. (2011) also reported that P. reticulatum (s. lat.) was a polyphyletic group including well­supported clades within it. Although they used molecular analysis on this group, only a few specimens from Eastern Asia were treated. In this study, the P. clavuliferum ­ P. reticulatum com­ plex is revised morphologically, chemically, and phylo­ Journal of Species Research 5(2):254­260, 2016