Twelve New Species Reveal Cryptic Diversification in Foliicolous Lichens of Strigula s.lat. (Strigulales, Ascomycota)

We employed a molecular phylogenetic approach using five markers (ITS, nuSSU, nuLSU, TEF1-α, and RPB2) to assess potential cryptic speciation in foliicolous members of Strigula s.lat. (Strigulaceae), including the recently segregated genera Phylloporis, Puiggariella, Raciborskiella, Racoplaca, and Serusiauxiella, from tropical areas in Asia, with selected materials from the Neotropics as reference. On the basis of combined molecular and phenotypic datasets, two new species of Racoplaca and 10 new species of Strigula s.str. are described: Racoplaca macrospora sp. nov., R. maculatoides sp. nov., Strigula guangdongensis sp. nov., S. intermedia sp. nov., S. laevis sp. nov., S. microcarpa sp. nov., S. pseudoantillarum sp. nov., S. pseudosubtilissima sp. nov., S. pycnoradians sp. nov., S. sinoconcreta sp. nov., S. stenoloba sp. nov., and S. subtilissimoides sp. nov. In addition, we propose the new combination Phylloporis palmae comb. nov. (≡ =Manaustrum palmae) and we validate the earlier combination Racoplaca melanobapha comb. nov. (≡ Verrucaria melanobapha; Strigula melanobapha). Our data clearly indicate a considerable degree of cryptic diversification in foliicolous representatives of Strigula s.lat., particularly in the presumably widespread taxa Strigula antillarum, S. concreta, S. nitidula, and S. smaragdula. Given that these phylogenetic revisions are thus far limited to few regions, we predict that our findings only represent the proverbial tip of the iceberg in this group of lichenized fungi.

A molecular phylogeny of Pilocarpaceae Zahlbr., including a new species of Tapellaria Müll. Arg. and new records of foliicolous lichenized fungi from Thailand

The phylogeny of foliicolous taxa in Pilocarpaceae was reconstructed using Bayesian and maximum likelihood analyses of concatenated ITS and mtSSU sequences. Sixty-six new partial sequences representing 36 taxa were generated and 29 sequences were downloaded from GenBank. Our results indicate that Lasioloma R. Sant. is nested within a paraphyletic Calopadia Vězda, whereas Fellhanera Vězda is polyphyletic and the phylogenetic relationships of Eugeniella Lücking et al. and Sporopodium Mont. with Fellhanera require further investigation. In addition, Tapellaria parvimuriformis W. C. Wang & J. C. Wei is described as a new species from Khao Yai National Park, Thailand, and is characterized by its small muriform ascospores, grey campylidia with a pale base, and short conidia. Eight new records of foliicolous lichens for Thailand are also listed.

Two new foliicolous species of Strigula (Strigulaceae, Strigulales) in Korea offer insight in phorophyte-dependent variation of thallus morphology

Foliicolous lichens grow on the surface of living leaves in tropical and subtropical forests. Compared to a large number of species of foliicolous lichens reported from other regions in tropical and subtropical Asia, only six species of the otherwise abundant genus Strigula have been registered from South Korea so far. Three of these, morphologically identified as S. concreta, S. macrocarpa, and S. smaragdula, had previously been shown to share near-identical ITS sequences, casting doubt about the usefulness of this marker for species delimitation in the genus Strigula. To shed light on this conundrum, we surveyed the diversity of the genus Strigula in the Gotjawal forest area on Jeju Island south of mainland Korea, where the climate and vegetation are suitable for foliicolous lichens. As the result of a combined analysis of phenotype and molecular data of the ITS fungal barcoding marker, we found that material morphologically similar to known species formed two strongly supported clades, representing two species new to science, S. depressa Woo, Lücking & Hur sp. nov. and S. multiformis Woo, Lücking & Hur sp. nov., which are described herein. Strigula multiformis included the four previously sequenced specimens identified as S. concreta, S. macrocarpa, and S. smaragdula. A detailed analysis of morphological and anatomical characters revealed that all specimens of S. multiformis were anatomically uniform but varied in thallus morphology, mostly resembling S. smaragdula but with some forms similar to S. concreta and S. macrocarpa, explaining the previous misidentifications. This variation was found to be driven by leaf characters of the phorophyte species, as these apparently influence the morphology of the subcuticular thalli.

Diversity of foliicolous lichens in Shivamogga district, Karnataka

Foliicolous lichens are one of the poorly documented groups of organisms found exclusively in evergreen forests. Very few works have been done on this group of lichens in the state of Karnataka. Hence, the present study is carried out to document the diversity of foliicolous lichens in evergreen, shola and semi-evergreen forest patches of Shivamogga district, Karnataka. Thirty-three species of foliicolous lichens are documented in the present study belonging to 16 genera and nine families. Among them Porina multiloculata, P. epiphylla, P. karnatakensis and Tricharia allostrigosa are the most dominant species. Whereas, Mazosia bambusae, Porina nitidula, P. semecarpi, P. microcarpa and Tapellaria phyllophila are less dominant species. Calamus thwaitesii supports wide range of foliicolous lichens. Cinnamomum macrocarpum, Dimocarpus longan, Memecylon malabaricum and Pinanga dicksonii are the other important plant species commonly supporting the foliicolous lichens in the study area. In the selected small study area, we are able to document 33 species of epiphyllous lichens. More explorations may yield many additions to the present knowledge.