Species delimitation in a cryptic Neotropical Thelephora species complex, with insights into the phylogenetic informativeness of loci

Key Points

• This research aims to clarify species boundaries within a cryptic Thelephora species complex and to evaluate the usefulness of different genetic markers for phylogenetic analysis.
• Molecular analysis of multiple genetic loci
• Phylogenetic tree construction to delineate species
• Comparative analysis of genetic variability among species
• Identified distinct species within the Thelephora complex
• Demonstrated that specific loci provide greater phylogenetic resolution
• Observed significant genetic variability across the clade