Abstract
Piccolia A.Massal. is a very small genus of crustose lichens with only six species currently accepted. It is characterized by multispored asci, a chlorococcoid photobiont and the presence of anthraquinone pigments in the apothecia (Hafellner 1995, Smith et al. 2009). Hafellner (1995) removed the genus Piccolia A.Massal. from synonymy with Biatorella De Not., recognizing four species. Recently Knudsen & Lendemer (2007) transferred B. nannaria (Tuck.) Zahlbr. to P. nan naria (Tuck.) Lendemer & Beeching and Hafellner (2004) transferred Strangospora ochrophora (Nyl.) R.A.Anderson to P. ochrophora (Nyl.) Hafellner. No molecular data are available so far, so that the taxonomic position of the genus is uncertain. The current version of Myconet includes Pic colia as a genus incertae sedis within the Lecanoromycetes (Lumbsch & Huhndorf 2010). Four of the species, P. elmeri (Vain.) Hafellner, P. hae matina (Mull. Arg.) Hafellner, P. nannaria (Tuck.) Lendemer & Beeching and P. wrightii (Tuck.) Hafellner, are restricted to tropical and subtropical regions. The widely distributed P. conspersa (Fee) Hafellner reaches also warm temperate regions and P. ochrophora (Nyl.) Hafellner occurs throughout Europe as well as in North and South America (Hafellner 1995, 2004, Knudsen & Lendemer 2007). During a collection trip in D.R.Congo in 2009, one of us (D.E.) discovered a crustose lichen with conspicuous apothecia. Microscopical investigation yielded multispored asci, a chlorococcoid photobiont and the presence in the epihymenium of an orange substance that reacted K+ purplish. During a new expedition in 2012 (COBIMFO project) a second specimen was discovered by the first author. A comparison with herbarium specimens of P. elmeri led us to consider the specimens from Reunion Island (van den Boom et al. 2011) to represent an additional new species. The third species, P. nivea, was found on the Solomon Islands and send to us by the second author.
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