Tephromela carassensis (Vain.) Aptroot & Lücking 2023

Santos, Lidiane Alves dos, Aptroot, André, Souza, Maria Fernanda de, Lücking, Robert, Guzmán-Guillermo, Jorge & Cáceres, Marcela Eugenia da Silva, 2023, Four new species of Tephromela M. Choisy (Ascomycota, Tephromelataceae), three containing lichexanthone, from Brazil and Mexico, Cryptogamie, Mycologie 20 (2), pp. 11-25 : 22

Tephromela carassensis (Vain.) Aptroot & Lücking , comb. nov.

( Fig. 5A, B )

Lecanora carassensis Vain., Acta Societatis pro Fauna et Flora Fennica 7 (1): 91 ( Vainio 1890).

HOLOTYPE. — Brazil. Minas Gerais, Catas Altas, Caraça , alt. 1400- 1500 m, on moss on sandstone, 1885, E. Vainio distributed in Lichenes Brasilinses Exsiccati 1572 (holo-, TUR [ TUR-VAIN 5217 ]).

ADDITIONAL SPECIMEN EXAMINED. — Brazil. Minas Gerais, Catas Altas, Caraça, on sandstone, 1997, Aptroot 40719 ( ABL, SP).

CHEMISTRY. — Thallus UV+ yellow, C-, P-, K-, apothecium margin UV+ yellow. With lichexanthone.

ECOLOGY AND DISTRIBUTION. — On mosses on sandstone in Campo rupestre in Caraça, Minas Gerais, Brazil; known only from Brazil.

MYCOBANK. — MB 846318.

DESCRIPTION

Thallus crustose, mineral to greenish-grey, rimose to verrucose, somewhat glossy, c. 0.3 mm thick, areoles 0.5-1 mm in diam. Prothallus absent. Apothecia present, sessile, roundish to lobate when old, numerous on the center of the thallus. Disk black, 0.5-1.5 mm in diam., flat, epruinose. Thalline margin concolorous with the thallus, internally with small crystals, glossy, 0.15-0.18 mm wide, raised above the level of the disk, crenate. Hymenium c. 100 µm thick, mottled bluish grey and pale brown. Subhymenium c. 200 µm thick, dark reddish brown. Epihymenium bluish grey, c. 60 µm thick, pigment unchanged in K. Asci slightly clavate, 8-spored. Ascospores simple, hyaline, ellipsoid, 9-12×5-6 µm, wall 1-2 µm thick. Pycnidia not observed.

DISCUSSION

This species was described in Lecanora but on account of the anatomical and chemical characters belongs in Tephromela , as also suggested by an annotation label by Klaus Kalb. It agrees in many aspects with T. epichlorina (Vain.) Aptroot & Lücking , comb. nov. (see below), and both were described from the same locality, but there are notably differences in the pigmentation patterns of the hymenium, epihymenium, and subhymenium. Both species differ from T. xanthonica Guzmán-Guillermo , sp. nov. also largely in apothecial pigment patterns (see key below).

Figures

FIG. 5. — Habitus and UV reaction: A, B, Tephromela carassensis (Vain.) Aptroot & Lücking, comb. nov. (type material of Lecanora carassensis Vainio), thallus and apothecium margin UV+ yellow;C, D, Tephromela epichlorina (Vain) Aptroot & Lücking, comb.nov. (lectotype material of Lecanora epichlorina Vainio), thallus and apothecium margin UV+ yellow. Scale bars: 2 mm.