Two new species of Porina (Porinaceae, lichenized Ascomycota) from submontane forest enclaves in Northeastern Brazil

Abstract

Two new species of Porina are presently described as new to science in the frame of a corticolous lichens survey in the Atlantic rainforest of Pernambuco State, in Northeastern Brazil. The type locality, known as Brejo dos Cavalos, is a so-called Brejo de Altitude, an Atlantic forest fragment located in the municipality of Caruaru, in the middle of the semiarid Caatinga: Porina ochraceocarpa Sobreira, Aptroot & M. Cáceres, with small, free, pale brown ascomata and fusiform 3-septate ascospores of 30–32 × 4.5–5 μm., and Porina purpurata Sobreira, Aptroot & M. Cáceres, with hemispherical thallus-covered ascomata that are mostly centrally covered with red, K+ purple pruina, and fusiform (3–)7-septate ascospores of 50–55 × 10–11 μm. The discovery of these unique taxa emphasizes the importance of thorough surveys of the lichen biota in the Atlantic rainforest of Brazil, a very biodiverse and threatened biome.