The Lichenologist 40(1): 39–46 (2008)  2008 British Lichen Society doi:10.1017/S0024282908007366 Printed in the United Kingdom Molecular data show that Topeliopsis (Ascomycota, Thelotremataceae) is polyphyletic Armin MANGOLD, Mari ´a P. MARTI uN, Klaus KALB, Robert LU } CKING and H. Thorsten LUMBSCH Abstract: A phylogenetic study using DNA sequences of the nuclear ribosomal large subunit from 38 species is used to infer the phylogeny of species currently placed in Topeliopsis. The genus is shown to be polyphyletic; monophyly of previous and current circumscriptions of the genus are rejected using two alternative hypothesis tests. Topeliopsis meridiensis is shown to be closer to Chapsa than Topeliopsis, but additional studies are necessary to understand the circumscription of Chapsa. The new genus Melanotopelia Lumbsch & Mangold is described to accommodate T. toensbergii and T. rugosa. These species were previously regarded as aberrant in Topeliopsis because of their thin-walled ascospores and dark pigmented proper exciple. The new combination Graphis mexicana (Hale) Kalb, Lu ¨ cking & Lumbsch is proposed and Graphis muscicola and Topeliopsis globosa reduced to synonymy with this species. Key words: Graphidaceae, Melanotopelia, Ostropomycetidae, phylogenetic analysis Introduction Topeliopsis is a small genus in Thelotremata- ceae currently including ten species (Aptroot 2002; Frisch & Kalb 2005; Kantvilas & Ve ˇzda 2000). The family belongs to Ostropales, which is the largest order within Ostropomycetidae (Hibbett et al. 2007; Lumbsch et al. 2007; Mia ¸dlikowska et al. 2007). While most genera in this family have their centre of distribution in tropical or subtropical regions (Hale 1980, 1981), species of Topeliopsis are common in oceanic-temperate zones and occur in tropi- cal regions only at high elevations. The genus was described by Kantvilas and Ve ˇzda (2000) to accommodate three species with urceolate, almost perithecioid ascomata, a fused proper exciple with lateral paraphyses (sensu Henssen 1995, same as periphysoids sensu Sherwood 1977, but not sensu Eriksson 1982) and hyaline, non-halonate, large, eumuriform ascospores that turn reddish or purple in iodine. When describing the new genus, Kantvilas and Ve ˇzda (2000) mentioned that it was heterogeneous and that two species, viz. T. rugosa Kantvilas & Ve ˇzda and T. toensbergii Ve ˇzda & Kantvilas ‘‘may well be better placed in a separate genus altogether’’ (Kantvilas & Ve ˇzda 2000: 348). These two species were said to differ from the type species in having, at least in part, dark pigmented layers in the proper exciple (vs. a hyaline proper exciple), a reddish reaction of the ascospores with iodine (vs. amyloid ascospores), and the presence of depsidones (vs. secondary metabolites lacking). Consequently, Kalb (2001) reviewed the generic circumscription of Topeliopsis and found that ascospores var- ied in Topeliopsis, being thin-walled and non- amyloid (i.e. not reacting blue in iodine) in A. Mangold, R. Lücking and H. T. Lumbsch (corre- sponding author): The Field Museum, Department of Botany, 1400 S. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605, USA. Email: tlumbsch@fieldmuseum.org A. Mangold: Universität Duisburg-Essen, Botanisches Institut, Universitätsstraße 5, 45117 Essen, Germany. M. P. Marti ´n: Department of Mycology, Real Jardi ´n Bota ´nico, CSIC, Plaza de Murillo 2, 28014 Madrid, Spain. K. Kalb: University of Regensburg, Institute of Botany, D-93040 Regensburg, Germany.