Lichen Herbarium Research Articles

Three species of the Cladonia pyxidata-chlorophaea complex new to Latvia

The study of the Cladonia pyxidata-chlorophaea complex in Latvia is based on the revision of 276 specimens from the two largest lichen herbarium collections in Latvia. Nine species belonging to the Cladonia pyxidata-chlorophaea complex were determined using TLC and morphological studies – C. chlorophaea, C. cryptochlorophaea, C. fimbriata, C. grayi, C. humilis, C. merochlorophaea, C. novochlorophaea, C. pocillum and C. pyxidata. Of these, three species are reported as new to Latvia – C. cryptochlorophaea, C. merochlorophaea, and C. novochlorophaea. Information regarding the morphology, secondary chemistry, ecology, and localities of the newly reported species is provided.

Typification of the name Arthopyreniaparolinii Beltr. (Ascomycota, Dothideomycetes, Pleosporales, Arthopyreniaceae).

Arthopyreniaparolinii Beltr. is one of the few species of the lichen genus Arthopyrenia A. Massal. described by Italian authors of the XIX century, lacking type formal association. In this regard, the name Arthopyreniaparolinii is hereby lectotypified using a specimen stored in the lichen herbarium of A.B. Massalongo at VER. Additional original material was found only at M, while another specimen at MSNVE, labelled as Spermatodiumparolinii, although referable to this species, should not be considered as original material. Arthopyreniaparolinii is among the least well-known species in the genus. Given the genus Arthopyrenia is still very poorly known, it is important to clarify the original material of the species and propose the lectotyping. The selected lectotype is the only sample among the analyzed ones reporting complete data on the locus classicus; it conforms to the characters described in the protologue and comes from the Herbarium Beltramini.

The dataset of the CLU lichen herbarium (Calabria, Italy).

Calabria, the southernmost tip of the Italian Peninsula, is a biogeographically very interesting region for lichenologists, characterised by the abundance of oceanic and suboceanic species with subtropical affinities, but also by the presence of the southernmost outposts of several boreal species on the highest peaks. The lichen biota of Calabria, which began to be intensively studied only from the 1980s, hosts more than 1000 infrageneric taxa. The lichen herbarium of the Botanical Garden of the University of Calabria (CLU) is the most relevant lichen collection from this region. It was established in 1985 and it presently includes 16926 specimens, most of which were collected in Calabria, although there are also several specimens from other parts of Italy and from abroad. This dataset contains 16926 records of lichens for a total of 1316 species. Of the 15219 georeferenced specimens, 10254 were collected in Calabria, while 4965 in other administrative regions of Italy. The dataset is available through GBIF, as well as in ITALIC, the Information System of Italian Lichens.

Гербарий лишайников Института морской геологии и геофизики ДВО РАН (SAK): первые результаты инвентаризации

The organization of the lichen herbarium in the Institute of Marine Geology and Geophysics of the FEB RAS was initiated in 2014 after a number of integrated expeditions in the Sakhalin Region. The herbarium is based on the collections of Aleksandr K. Ezhkin and Vladimir V. Kaganov. A significant amount of lichen samples was collected in protected areas of the Sakhalin Region, in wild remote sites, and in areas of volcanic activity. Currently, a part of the collection (1178 samples, 307 species) is mounted and stored in the Laboratory of plant ecology and geoecology, which is about 1/8 of all herbarium material of lichens stored in the Institute of Marine Geology and Geophysics of the FEB RAS.

Developing a fast, reproducible, and simple protocol for virtual lichen herbarium using barcoding and QR code techniques

In recent days, biological specimens are digitalized and digital images are available in virtual herbarium for teaching and learning process. Now, there is a need to explore possibilities of usage of barcodes and quick response (QR) codes in developing virtual herbarium for quick access as well as study the taxonomy of repository specimens. In order to establish a virtual herbarium for lichens using barcode and QR code techniques, lichen specimens such as Chrysothrix candelaris (L.) J.R.Laundon, Leucodermia leucomelos (L.) Kalb, Heterodernia flabellate (fee) D.D.Awasthi, Parmotrema andinum (Mull.Arg.) Hale, Parmotrema grayanum (Hue) Hale, Parmellinella stuppeum (Taylor) Hale, and Ramalina intermedia (Delise ex Nyl.) Nyl. were collected from the Eastern Ghats and the Western Ghats of Tamil Nadu, India and were identified based on morphological, anatomical and biochemical methods. Moreover, these specimens were preserved in the conventional lichen herbarium as reference materials for future studies. The barcodes and QR codes were generated for all the repository specimens to access the materials as well as to get a complete description of the lichen specimens. The generated barcodes provided the binomial name of lichen specimens along with their accession number. Similarly, the QR codes provided the digital image of lichen specimens along with complete descriptions such as distribution, habit and habitat, growth forms, name of the family, reproductive structure, chemistry, nature of thallus structure and lichen secondary metabolites. From these studies, we standardized a simple, rapid with reproducible protocol to develop a virtual herbarium for lichens to get the digital image and to access the complete descriptions of lichen specimens. This study might be useful for Lichenologists to get information about lichens in digital form and to maintain the lichen wealth for future regenerations without disturbing the lichen biodiversity.

The lichen collection from Angola and Mozambique in COI (Coimbra, Portugal)

The importance of the COI lichen herbarium is increased by the results shown here. Forty-seven taxa are reported from Africa, forty-three from Angola and seven from Mozambique. Four species are new to Africa, 30 to Angola and 3 to Mozambique. Two species are described as new to science: Parmotrema carballalianum and Sclerococcum parmotrematis, a lichenicolous fungus living on the former. A key to all known lichenicolous species of Sclerococcum growing on Parmelia s.l. is provided.

Challenges to developing a reference sequence database using mass parallel sequencing and lichen herbarium specimens: a case study for microlichens of the Australian Capital Territory

Challenges to developing a reference sequence database using mass parallel sequencing and lichen herbarium specimens: a case study for microlichens of the Australian Capital Territory

A long-read amplicon approach to scaling up the metabarcoding of lichen herbarium specimens.

Reference sequence databases are critical to the accurate detection and identification of fungi in the environment. As repositories of large numbers of well-curated specimens, herbaria and fungal culture collections have the material resources to generate sequence data for large number of taxa, and could therefore allow filling taxonomic gaps often present in reference sequence databases. Financial resources to do that are however often lacking, so that recent efforts have focused on decreasing sequencing cost by increasing the number of multiplexed samples per sequencing run while maintaining high sequence quality. Following a previous study that aimed at decreasing sequencing cost for lichen specimens by generating fungal ITS barcodes for 96 specimens using PacBio amplicon sequencing, we present a method that further decreases lichen specimen metabarcoding costs. A total of 384 mixed DNA extracts obtained from lichen herbarium specimens, mostly from the four genera Buellia, Catillaria, Endocarpon and Parmotrema, were used to generate new fungal ITS sequences using a Sequel I sequencing platform and the PacBio M13 barcoded primers. The average success rate across all taxa was high (86.5%), with particularly high rates for the crustose saxicolous taxa (Buellia, Catillaria and others; 93.3%) and the terricolous squamulose taxa (Endocarpon and others; 96.5%). On the other hand, the success rate for the foliose genus Parmotrema was lower (60.4%). With this taxon sampling, greater specimen age did not appear to impact sequencing success. In fact, the 1966–1980 collection date category showed the highest success rate (97.3%). Compared to the previous study, the abundance-based sequence denoising method showed some limitations, but the cost of generating ITS barcodes was further decreased thanks to the higher multiplexing level. In addition to contributing new ITS barcodes for specimens of four interesting lichen genera, this study further highlights the potential and challenges of using new sequencing technologies on collection specimens to generate DNA sequences for reference databases.

In memoriam Klára Verseghy (1930–2020)

Dr Klára Verseghy (1930–2020), a student of the famous Hungarian lichenologist Ödön Szatala, was working as the curator of the lichen collection of the Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest between 1958 and 1985. She did a great development in the lichen herbarium arranging and registering the big collections of F. Fóriss, V. Gyelnik and Ö. Szatala in the Zahlbruckner’s system. Separating the type specimens she prepared also the type catalogue of the lichen collection in 1964. Approximately 5,000 lichen specimens were collected by herself in several areas of Hungary (e.g. Bakony Mts, Hortobágy, Kiskunság, Praenoricum, Vendvidék, Villány Mts, Zemplén Mts) and ca 1,500 specimens from other countries (e.g. Finland, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, Turkey and Ukraine). She published more than a hundred scientific and popular papers mainly on floristics, taxonomy, plant physiology and bioindication. Altogether 46 new taxa (19 species, 27 varieties and forms) and 69 new combinations were described by her. Following her taxonomic revisions (Caloplaca, Gasparrinia, Ochrolechia, Squamaria, Squamarina spp.) and floristical studies she prepared her main work “Magyarország zuzmóflórájának kézikönyve (The handbook of the Hungarian lichen flora)” in 1994. Her publications (106, including 23 in popular subject), her revisions and thousands of lichen specimens, the genus Verseghya and two species, Verseghya klarae and Verseghya thysanophora named after her preserve her memories.

PacBio amplicon sequencing for metabarcoding of mixed DNA samples from lichen herbarium specimens

The detection and identification of species of fungi in the environment using molecular methods heavily depends on reliable reference sequence databases. However, these databases are largely incomplete in terms of taxon coverage, and a significant effort is required from herbaria and living fungal collections for the mass-barcoding of well-identified and well-curated fungal specimens or strains. Here, a PacBio amplicon sequencing approach is applied to recent lichen herbarium specimens for the sequencing of the fungal ITS barcode, allowing a higher throughput sample processing than Sanger sequencing, which often required the use of cloning. Out of 96 multiplexed samples, a full-length ITS sequence of the target lichenised fungal species was recovered for 85 specimens. In addition, sequences obtained for co-amplified fungi gave an interesting insight into the diversity of endolichenic fungi. Challenges encountered at both the laboratory and bioinformatic stages are discussed, and cost and quality are compared with Sanger sequencing. With increasing data output and reducing sequencing cost, PacBio amplicon sequencing is seen as a promising approach for the generation of reference sequences for lichenised fungi as well as the characterisation of lichen-associated fungal communities.

A new species of Clandestinotrema (Ascomycota: Ostropales: Graphidaceae) from montane cloud forest in the Venezuelan Andes

AbstractRevision of lichen herbarium specimens at DUKE revealed a species of thelotremoid Graphidaceae new to science. Clandestinotrema carbonera sp. nov. is characterized by an olive-green thallus, dense cortex, the absence of a columella, ascospores 15–24 × 5.5–8.0 μm with 3–5 transverse septa (occasionally submuriform), and the presence of hypostictic acid as a major substance. At present the species is known only from the type locality, an area of montane cloud forest near Mérida, Venezuela. Interestingly, this species appears to have been discussed in the literature once before, as an unnamed ‘Thelotrema sp.’ which in the 1970s provided the first instance of hypostictic acid isolated from a lichen. The previous report of C. leucomelaenum from the same locality is shown to actually represent C. pauperius.

The lichens and allied fungi from the Leningrad Region and Saint Petersburg in the lichen herbarium of the University of Tartu

The revision of specimens in the lichen herbarium of the University of Tartu revealed 127 specimens representing 86 species from the Leningrad Region and Saint Petersburg; these include Calicium adspersum published as a new species for the Leningrad Region and Carbonicola anthracophila reported for the first time for the Eastern Leningrad Region. A curious finding is Umbilicaria muehlenbergii, collected in 1954 in the northern part of Karelian Isthmus. Forgotten collections by Anne-Liis Sõmermaa (1972) from the territory of the modern Vepssky Forest Nature Park, by Haide-Ene Rebassoo (1988) from Maly Tuters Island (Vähä-Tytärsaari, Säyvö) and by Paul von Kühlewein (“regio Petropolitano”, 19th century) are of special interest.

The New York Botanical Garden Lichen Herbarium: A unique resource for fungal biodiversity research and education

The history and development of the lichen research program and herbarium at The New York Botanical Garden are reviewed.

A review of the lichen genera Chaenotheca and Sclerophora (Coniocybaceae) in Belarus. I

The paper presents data on 11 lichen species of the genera Chaenotheca and Sclerophora in Belarus. A new locality of Chaenotheca cinerea has been discovered; until now the species was known in Belarus from the only record published in 1830. New localities of protected lichens C. chlorella and C. gracilenta are found. Data on localities, habitats and substrates of all species are provided. It is established, that C. chlorella, C. chrysocephala, C. gracilenta, C. phaeocephala, Sclerophora farinacea, S. pallida and S. peronella inhabit mainly the bark of old-growth deciduous or rarely coniferous trees. The specimens are deposited at the lichen herbarium of V. F. Kuprevich Institute of Experimental Botany, National Academy of Sciences of Belarus (MSK-L).

Contributions to a history of New Zealand lichenology 5*. James Murray (1923–1961)

James Murray (1923–1961), an organic chemist by profession, was also New Zealand’s first modern lichenologist. Having a wide knowledge of New Zealand plants, and a very competent grasp of post-war natural product chemistry, he was well qualified to take up lichens at a period when chemosystematics was just becoming important in the group. His early published work was to influence the emerging field of lichen bioactive compounds, and 50 years later, generic concepts in the Lobariaceae. Murray’s joint careers in organic chemistry and lichenology were tragically cut short by his early accidental death; his legacy being a handful of papers and an extensive lichen herbarium (now at OTA). However, James Murray’s example and influence have resonated much more widely than these concrete accomplishments. To enable his contributions to be properly appreciated, the present biographical memoir outlines his life, work and legacy to modern lichenology. The genus Yarrumia D.J.Galloway is described in Murray’s honour and two new combinations are made: Y. colensoi (C.Bab.) D.J.Galloway and Y. coronata (Müll.Arg.) D.J.Galloway.

New Estonian records and amendments: Lichenized and lichenicolous fungi

Two species of lichenized fungi, Rhizocarpon ferax and Umbilicaria hirsuta , and one species of lichenicolous fungi, Opegrapha physciaria , are reported as new for Estonia. Another very rare species, Parmelia submontana , is additionally recorded. Cited specimens are kept in the lichenological herbarium of the Natural History Museum, University of Tartu (TU) or in the lichen herbarium of the Euroacademy (ICEB).

Notes on the Lichen Genus Leptogium (Collemataceae, Ascomycota) in South Korea

Leptogium (Ach.) Gray is distributed throughout South Korea; however, for nearly two decades no detailed taxonomic or revisionary research on this lichen genus has been conducted. This study examined the specimens deposited in the lichen herbarium at the Korean Lichen Research Institute, and samples were identified using descriptions recently published in the scientific literature. In this revisionary study, a total of fourteen species of Leptogium were documented, including new records of Leptogium delavayi Hue, Leptogium denticulatum Nyl., and Leptogium trichophoroides P. M. Jørg. & A. K. Wallace. Detailed descriptions of each species are given, including their morphological, anatomical, and chemical characteristics. A key to all Leptogium species known to occur in South Korea is also presented.

The Lichen Genus Sticta in South Korea

Sticta (Schreber.) Ach. is one of the common lichen genera in tropical and subtropical regions, but not in the Korean Peninsula. For almost two decades, no detailed taxonomic or revisionary study has been done on this genus. This study was based on the specimens deposited in the lichen herbarium at the Korean Lichen Research Institute, and the samples were identified on the basis of recent literature. In this revisionary study, a total of eight species of Sticta, including a newly recorded one are documented. These species include Sticta fuliginosa (Dicks.) Ach., Sticta gracilis (Müll. Arg.) Zahlbr., Sticta limbata (Sm.) Ach., Sticta nylanderiana Zahlbr., Sticta sublimbata (J. Steiner) Swinscow & Krog, Sticta weigelii (Ach.) Vain., Sticta wrightii Tuck., and Sticta yatabeana Müll. Arg. Detailed descriptions of S. nylanderiana, S. sublimbata, S. weigelii, and S. yatabeana with their morphological, anatomical, and chemical characteristics are provided. A key description of all known Sticta species of the Korean Peninsula is also presented.

Lichen genus Usnea (Parmeliaceae, Ascomycota) in Uttarakhand, India

Usnea is a widespread fruticose lichen popularly known for its medicinal properties across the world. Though it has been mentioned in many floristic studies reported from Uttarakhand, India, no detailed taxonomic account has been conducted for the past two decades. The present study was based on specimens deposited in lichen herbarium of National Botanical Research Institute (LWG), personal herbarium of D.D. Awasthi (AWAS) and herbarium of the department of botany, Lucknow University (LWU). A total of 28 species, including seven new additions to Uttarakhand, namely U. dendritica Stirt., U. lucea Mot., U. norketti G. Awasthi, U. pseudosinensis Asahina, U. sinensis Mot., U. spinosula Stirt., U. subflorida Stirt.are presented along with key to species.

Lichen Mycota in South Korea: The Genus Usnea

Usnea Adans. is a somewhat rare lichen in South Korea, and, in nearly two decades, no detailed taxonomic or revisionary study has been conducted. This study was based on the specimens deposited in the lichen herbarium at the Korean Lichen Research Institute, and the samples were identified using information obtained from recent literature. In this study, a total of eight species of Usnea, including one new record, Usnea hakonensis Asahina, are documented. Detailed descriptions of each species with their morphological, anatomical, and chemical characteristics are provided. A key to all known Usnea species in South Korea is also presented.