Flabelloporina Sobreira, M. Cáceres & Lücking, 2018

Sobreira, Priscylla Nayara Bezerra, Cáceres, Marcela Eugenia Da Silva, Maia, Leonor Costa & Lücking, Robert, 2018, Flabelloporina, a new genus in the Porinaceae (Ascomycota, Ostropales), with the first record of F. squamulifera from Brazil, Phytotaxa 358 (1), pp. 67-75 : 72

Flabelloporina Sobreira, M. Cáceres & Lücking gen. nov

Mycobank: MB 826736

A genus in the family Porinaceae characterized by a thallus bearing flabelliform squamules, black, exposed perithecia not covered thallus, and transversely septate ascospores.

Type: — Flabelloporina squamulifera (Breuss, Lücking & E. Navarro) Sobreira, M. Cáceres & Lücking (holotype).

Etymology: —The name of the genus refers to the flabelliform squamules formed on the thallus.

Description: —Thallus corticolous, crustose, with shiny dark prothallus, bearing numerous, flabelliform squamules ( Fig. 2A–B ); photobiont Trentepohlia . Ascomata rare, developed on the crustose portions of the thallus, perithecioid, single, not covered by the thallus, hemispherical, black. Hamathecium composed of unbranched paraphyses. Asci unitunicate, 8-spored. Ascospores hyaline, transversely septate. Pycnidia not observed. Chemistry: perithecial wall K+ violet.

Discussion: — Porina squamulifera , introduced by Lücking et al. (2013), was included in Porina s.lat. because of the then unresolved taxonomy of the Porinaceae . Although the species demonstrates similarity with the genera Pseudosagedia and Trichothelium , due to the black perithecial wall reacting violet after treatment with KOH ( Hafellner and Kalb 1995), molecular phylogeny clearly separates these genera from each other and from P. squamulifera . The new genus is otherwise distinguished from all other Porinaceae by the squamule-bearing thallus. Besides this unique morphology, thallus color in combination with a dark, shiny prothallus are reminescent of unrelated species in the P. eminentior (Nyl.) McCarthy (2000: 42) clade ( Clathroporina ) and the P. alba (R. Sant.) Lücking (2004: 412) clade ( Phyllophiale ), Trichothelium horridulum (Müll. Arg.) Santesson (1952: 222) , and Zamenhofia . The latter features black perithecia and produce cylindrical isidia; it has not yet been sequenced, but its perithecial chemistry differs from that found in Flabelloporina and other lineages with black perithecia ( Clauzade & Roux 1985; Tretiach 2014). The black, hemispherical perithecia, together with the 3-septate ascospores, are reminescent of several species of Porina s.lat., such as P. tetralocularis Aptroot in Aptroot & Sipman (1993: 39) and P. thaxteri Santesson (1952: 218) . All these from crustose thalli and are likely unrelated to the new genus; we predict that they belong in the genera Pseudosagedia and Trichothelium , respectively.

Figures

FIGURE 2. A, B. Morphology of the sequenced sample of Flabelloporina squamulifera from Brazil, showing thallus bearing numerous flabelliform squamules (Lücking et al. 39729). Scale = 1 mm.