Abstract
Lecanoraparasymmicta Lee & Hur and Protoparmeliopsiscrystalliniformis Lee & Hur are described as new lichen species to science from the forested wetlands in southern South Korea. Molecular analyses employing internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and mitochondrial small subunit (mtSSU) sequences strongly support the two lecanoroid species to be distinct in their genera. Lecanoraparasymmicta is included in the Lecanorasymmicta group. It is morphologically distinguished from Lecanorasymmicta (Ach.) Ach., its most similar species, by areolate-rimose thallus, blackish hypothallus, larger apothecia, absence of thalline excipulum from the beginning, narrower paraphyses, larger ascospores, smaller pycnoconidia, and the presence of placodiolic acid. The second new species Protoparmeliopsiscrystalliniformis is included in a clade with Protoparmeliopsisbipruinosa (Fink) S.Y. Kondr. and P.nashii (B.D. Ryan) S.Y. Kondr., differs from Protoparmeliopsisertzii Bungartz & Elix, its most morphologically similar species, by whitish thallus, flat to concave and paler disc, longer ascospores, thallus K+ yellow reaction, presence of atranorin and rhizocarpic acid, and the substrate preference to sandstone or basalt. A key is provided to assist in the identification of Protoparmeliopsis species in Korea.
Highlights
We describe them as two new species, Lecanora parasymmicta and Protoparmeliopsis crystalliniformis, and these discoveries contributes to the taxonomy of the lecanoroid lichens of Korea by listing overall fifty three taxa of Lecanora and six taxa of Protoparmeliopsis
Four independent phylogenetic trees for the genera Lecanora and Protoparmeliopsis were produced from 117 sequences (71 for internal transcribed spacer (ITS), and 30 for mitochondrial small subunit (mtSSU)) from GenBank and, 16 new sequences (11 for ITS and 5 for mtSSU) from the new and compared species (Table 1)
The mtSSU tree shows that the new species is located in a clade with L. symmicta and L. strobilina Ach., represented by a bootstrap value of 100 and a posterior probability of 1.0 for the branch (Fig. 3)
Summary
As the genus Lecanora has been considered one of the largest genera in lichens, several infrageneric groups have been or comprehensively studied in diverse aspects in morphology, chemistry and molecular phylogeny (Eigler 1969; Brodo 1984; Lumbsch 1995; Motyka 1995, 1996; Printzen 2001; Pérez-Ortega et al 2010; Zhao et al 2016; Bungartz et al 2020). Hue (1909) first reported the lecanoroid lichens from Korea by describing four new taxa in the genus Lecanora, L. oreina (Ach.) Ach., L. hueana Harm., L. hueana f. Were described or referenced from Korea during the 2010s (Kondratyuk et al 2013, 2016a, 2017), and totally five species were recorded in the genus Protoparmeliopsis for the country, P. pseudogyrophorica was later reclassified to Sedelnikovaea pseudogyrophorica This study describes two new lichen-forming fungi species to science in the genera Lecanora, i.e., the L. symmicta group, and Protoparmeliopsis. The specimens are deposited in the herbarium of the Baekdudaegan National Arboretum (KBA, the herbarium acronym in the Index Herbariorum), South Korea
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