Abstract
I have addressed taxonomic affiliation, genus delimitation, and species delimitations in the lichen genus Eschatogonia. Preliminary parsimony analyses, based on one mitochondrial (SSU) ribosomal DNA-region, on a dataset representing 245 accessions, mostly members from the Ramalinaceae, showed that Eschatogonia belongs in the Ramalinaceae and that the genus is not monophyletic as currently circumscribed. The current study is based on two molecular markers, one nuclear (ITS) and one mitochondrial (mtSSU) ribosomal DNA-region, secondary chemistry, and morphological characters, and. Bayesian and parsimony phylogenetic analyses, of a dataset representing six out of the previously seven accepted species of Eschatogonia, support six clades, where four of these corresponds to current species circumscriptions. One clade contains undescribed species of Eschatogonia and another suggests that E. triptophyllina is paraphyletic as currently circumscribed. Eschatogonia marivelensis shows a closer relation to species outside of the genus than other Eschatogonia species. I observed genetic heterogeneity in several clades that mostly correlates with chemical and morphological results. Based on phylogenetic, chemical, and morphological results, I accept 12 species of Eschatogonia: E. angustiloba, E. atriseda sp. nov., E. filiformis sp. nov., E. granulosorediata, E. isidiata sp. nov., E. lobulifera sp. nov., E. marivelensis, E. minuta, E. okinawae sp. nov, E. prolifera, E. thorii sp. nov., and E. triptophyllina. Eschatogonia dissecta is placed in synonymy with E. triptophyllina.