A molecular phylogeny of the lichen genus <i>Biatora</i> including some morphologically similar species

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>The lichen genus <jats:italic>Biatora</jats:italic> comprises inconspicuous crustose lichens that are typically found on organic substrata such as tree bark, bryophytes and detritus. During the last 20 years many new species have been added to the genus making its delimitation more and more difficult. The infrageneric relationships of the 42 species have never been investigated thoroughly. Using DNA sequences from three gene loci (ITS, RPB2, mrSSU) and 59 OTUs, an attempt was made to reconstruct the phylogenetic relationships of <jats:italic>Biatora</jats:italic> and its infrageneric groups. <jats:italic>Cliostomum</jats:italic> appears to be the closest relative of <jats:italic>Biatora</jats:italic>. The position of <jats:italic>Mycobilimbia</jats:italic> in the <jats:italic>Lecania</jats:italic>-clade is confirmed. Phylogenetic relationships within <jats:italic>Biatora</jats:italic> are poorly supported, but six different species groups that are also phenotypically distinguished are more or less well supported: the <jats:italic>vernalis-, meiocarpa-, hertelii-, ocelliformis-, beckhausii-</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>rufidula-</jats:italic> groups. The analysis also confirms the presence of several undescribed taxa. <jats:italic>Biatora subduplex</jats:italic> as currently circumscribed appears to be heterogeneous, as does <jats:italic>B. helvola</jats:italic>. Based on the phylogeny, the distributional range of <jats:italic>B. alaskana</jats:italic> is extended to Japan. The new combinations <jats:italic>Biatora ementiens</jats:italic> (Nyl.) Printzen and <jats:italic>Biatora hemipolia</jats:italic> (Nyl.) S. Ekman & Printzen are made and both names are typified.</jats:p>