taxonID	type	description	language	source
03BD87FC7E56FFB9E9F7CE60FCAAFD38.taxon	etymology	Etymology: The specific epithet “ laojunensis ” refers to the geographic name of Laojun Mountain, where the holotype was collected. Saprobic on the bark of Abies fabri (Pinaceae). Sexual morph: Ascomata perithecial, superficial, erumpent, the base surrounded by the lichen thallus tissue of Ochrolechia sp., irregularly scattered, rarely clustered, sessile, subglobose to globose, black, with a smooth surface, 1 – 1.5 mm in diameter, and possessing an apex ostiolate. Peridium 50 – 80 μm thick on both sides, the upper part 65 – 100 μm thick, dark brownish to black, composed of highly melanised irregular cells. Pseudoparaphyses 1.5 – 2.5 μm thick, branched. Asci (105 –) 130 – 162 (– 180) × (17 –) 20 – 30 μm (x = 150 × 26 μm, n = 6), 8 - spored, bitunicate, clavate, K-. Ascospores (34 –) 35 – 55 (– 56) × (10 –) 11 – 14 (– 16) μm (x = 48 × 13 μm, n = 30), length to width ratio (l / w) = 3.3 – 3.9 (x = 3.8, n = 30), usually 2 - celled with a septum, slightly constricted at the septum, hyaline when young and turning dark brown with greenish or bluish coloration at maturity, fusiform, asymmetric with a slightly larger upper cell, both ends slightly subacute, guttulate, with two central globose guttules either side of the septum, smaller guttules elsewhere. Asexual morph: Not observed. Material examined: China, Yunnan Province, Lijiang City, Laojun Mountain National Nature Reserve, 26 ° 37 ′ 54.86 ″ N, 99 ° 43 ′ 28.13 ″ E, elev. 4000 m, on the bark of Abies fabri (Pinaceae), 9 th August 2022, collected by Qing-Feng Meng, Coll. No. ljs- 29 (KUN-L 88727, holotype). Notes: The phylogenetic analysis of combined LSU and ITS sequence data reveals that Kirschsteiniothelia laojunensis forms a sister clade with K. thujina (JF 13210). However, nucleotide comparison differences between Kirschsteiniothelia laojunensis and K. thujina (JF 13210), showed a difference of 1.57 % (12 / 765 bp) for LSU and 5.27 % (27 / 512 bp) for ITS. The new taxon differs from Kirschsteiniothelia thujina in having wider diameter ascomata (1000 – 1500 μm vs. 350 – 500 μm), longer asci (130 – 162 × 20 – 30 μm vs. 100 – 140 × 17 – 22 μm) and narrower ascospores (35 – 55 × 11 – 14 μm vs. 36 – 50 × 15 – 17 μm) (Hawksworth 1985).	en	Meng, Qing-Feng, Thiyagaraja, Vinodhini, Worthy, Fiona Ruth, Ertz, Damien, Wang, Xin-Yu, Jayawardena, Ruvishika S., Fu, Shao-Bin, Saichana, Natsaran (2024): Morphological and phylogenetic appraisal of a new Kirschsteiniothelia (Dothideomycetes, Kirschsteiniotheliales) species from Yunnan Province, China. Phytotaxa 661 (3): 267-281, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.661.3.4, URL: https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.661.3.4
