Shackletonia cryodesertorum (Teloschistaceae, Ascomycota), a new species from the McMurdo Dry Valleys (Antarctica) with notes on the biogeography of the genus Shackletonia

Abstract

A new species of Shackletonia (Teloschistaceae) is described from the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica, one of the regions with the harshest conditions on Earth. Distinctive traits of the new taxon are the grey thallus, its black lecideine apothecia with a dark greenish blue exterior side of the exciple, Lecidea green pigment present at the cortex and exciple, emodin-dominated anthraquinones only in epithecium, and spores on average 11.2 × 6.0 μm with 3.6 μm wide septum. New chemical data from HPLC analyses further supports the uniqueness of the genus Shackletonia regarding secondary metabolite production within subfamily Xanthorioideae. Using three molecular markers (nrITS, nuLSU, and mtSSU) we found the new species sister to S. sauronii, a species so far known only from Livingston Island (Antarctica). Using secondary calibrations we inferred a long-time evolution of Shackletonia in the Southern Hemisphere, which separated from the remaining lineages of Xanthorioideae between the late Cretaceous and the early Paleogene, and diversified during the late Paleocene and early Oligocene.