Species separable only by DNA analysis

I've just come across this dilemma for the first time while giving my lichen list some TLC. Good old Parmelia saxatilis is now a species complex whose members can't be distinguished without DNA analysis, but Parmelia saxatilis s. l. isn't available in the list, just saxatilis s. str.

How do the official PSL rules handle this situation?

This wording is from elsewhere on this website (see  panspecieslisting.com/about-pan-species-listing.html  ) Note the final couple of sentences. Personally I'm dreading the day when robust identifications rely on DNA analysis, it means I'll just have to walk away from various species as they'll be beyond my capabilities. Still, there's always shedloads of other things to look at. 

Taxonomy
All species in the animal, plant, fungus, and protist Kingdoms, i.e. everything except Bacteria and viruses. Bacteria are excluded partly because they have not been traditionally covered by naturalists and partly because the very concept of a species is difficult to apply to Bacteria. However, we have recently decided to include Cyanobacteria.

Taxonomic level
Only species count as ticks. No sub-species or variants. And aggregates don’t count either, if you want a dandelion or a common rustic species on your list, you need to identify it to species.

Thanks Seth. 42 people have s. str. on their list ... including you

P. ernstiae is one of the segregates and it's pretty widespread, possibly even more so that P. saxatils s. str.

britishlichensociety.org.uk/resources/sp...ts/parmelia-ernstiae

cf.

britishlichensociety.org.uk/resources/sp...elia-saxatilis-s-str

So that presumably means most of those 42 identifications are unsafe.

If of interest, here's the 2019 paper from The Lichenologist that did the analysis showing that Parmelia saxatilis, P. ernstiae and P. serrana can only be IDed by DNA.   The full text is not available (unless you pay), but the abstract is very informative. 

www.cambridge.org/core/journals/lichenol...7FF01964C708DBBBEF9#

 

Thanks Jerry. The full text can be requested via ResearchGate for anyone interested.

www.researchgate.net/publication/3326949...ggregate_in_Scotland