Lambiella parvipsephota Kantvilas 2022, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Kantvilas, Gintaras
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Fungi
Ascomycota
Lecanoromycetes
Baeomycetales
Xylographaceae
Lambiella
Lambiella parvipsephota

description: <i>Lambiella parvipsephota</i> Kantvilas, <i>sp. nov.</i> Mycobank no. 844104 (Figs 1A, 1B) Similar to <i>Lambiella psephota</i> (Tuck.) Hertel and <i>L. subpsephota</i> (Fryday) Fryday, from which it differs by a combination of a thallus containing norstictic acid, the absence of <i>sedifolia</i> -grey pigment in the apothecia, relatively small apothecia, 0.1−0.2 mm wide, and small ascospores, 8−13 × 5–7.5 µm. Type:— AUSTRALIA. Tasmania, Cockle Bay Lagoon, 42°42’S 147°56’E, 1 m elevation, on dolerite cobbles along the sea shore, well above the high tide mark, 24 July 2011, <i>G</i> <i>.</i> <i>Kantvilas 221/11</i> (holotype − HO). Thallus crustose, areolate, dull pale grey, matt, closely adnate to the substratum, forming rather neat, roundish patches to 50 mm wide, delimited by a thin, grey-black prothallus; areoles 0.1–0.5 mm wide, to <i>c.</i> 150−200 µm thick, mostly convex, roundish to rather angular, contiguous, delimited by deep fissures; cortex poorly differentiated, to 10 µm thick; medulla patchily I+ violet, KI+ violet; photobiont a unicellular green alga (<i>Chlorella</i> - type) with cells irregularly globose to rhomboid, 5–13 × 5−11 µm, with a gelatinous sheath <i>c.</i> 1 µm thick. Apothecia 0.1−0.2 mm wide, lecideine, roundish to deformed-elongate or ± angular, especially when squashed together, adnate and nestled between the thallus areoles; disc black, plane, minutely roughened but not gyrose; proper exciple black, persistent, entire, elevated a little above the level of the disc, in section cupulate, opaque brown, K+ reddish brown, 15–40 mm thick laterally, mostly thicker basally, composed of rather cellular hyphae 4−6 µm wide. Hypothecium 30−40 µm thick, hyaline, I−. Hymenium 55−60 µm thick, mostly hyaline, KI+ intense blue, brownish, K± intensifying reddish brown in the upper part; paraphyses richly branched and anastomosing, 1.5−2 mm wide, with apices unpigmented, occasionally moniliform and expanded to 3 µm; asci 8-spored, broadly clavate, 38–50 × 17–26 µm, approximating the <i>Trapelia</i> - type, with an intensely amyloid wall, a well-developed tholus, amyloid at the flanks and apex but non-amyloid elsewhere and lacking any internal differentiation. Ascospores simple, persistently hyaline, non-halonate, thin-walled, oblong to ellipsoid, rarely subglobose, (8−)9– <i>10.4</i> –12(−13) × 5– <i>6.0</i> –7–7.5) µm (<i>n</i> = 55). <i>Conidiomata</i> not seen. <i>Chemistry:</i> norstictic and connorstictic acids, detected by TLC and under the microscope, where squashes of the thallus and apothecia produce red, needle-shaped crystals upon the addition of K. <i>Etymology:</i> the specific epithet alludes to the smaller apothecia and ascospores of the new species in comparison to <i>L. psephota</i>. <i>Notes:</i> With its dull grey, areolate thallus containing norstictic acid, this species, on first inspection, resembles <i>L. psephota</i>, a widespread and common saxicolous lichen in Tasmania, and was intially though to be a diminutive variant of that species. Although mainly found on exposed rocks in alpine, high mountain environments, <i>L. psephota</i> is also known from lower pinnacles, where its occurrence is interpreted as relict from a past colder, drier climate. However, to consider that <i>L. psephota</i> might also occur on sea-shore cobblestones seemed an incredible extension of its ecological niche and initiated further study. <i>Lambiella parvispsephota</i> differs from <i>L. psephota</i> by several morphological and antomical characters. The latter has larger apothecia (to 0.9 mm diam.), larger ascospores (12−21 × 6.5−13 µm) and contains <i>sedifolia</i> -grey pigment (greenish brown, K+violet, C+ violet) in the epihymenium (see Kantvilas 2014). The asci of the two species are also slightly different, with those of the new species having essentially <i>Trapelia</i> - type asci, whereas those of <i>L. psephota</i> display signs of a highly reduced apical ring-structure in the tholus (see Kantvilas 2014: Fig. 4E). Furthermore, whereas the ascospores of <i>L. psephota</i> tend to turn brown with age, those of the new species remain hyaline throughout development. Also somewhat similar is <i>L. subpsephota</i> (Fryday) Fryday, described from Tierra del Fuego and the Falkland Island (Fryday &amp; Øvstedal 2012). Interestingly, this species also occurs on maritime rocks, but differs from the new species by lacking norstictic acid, containing <i>sedifolia</i> -grey, and having somewhat longer, broader ascospores (13−15 × 9−10 µm) (Fryday &amp; Øvstedal 2012). The new species was also compared to the Northern Hemisphere’s <i>L. impavida</i> (Th.Fr.) M.Westb. &amp; Resl but that species is essentially a coarser lichen with bigger areoles, an I− medulla, usually contains stictic acid, and has marginally smaller ascospores (5.5−10 × 6−8 µm) (Hertel &amp; Rambold 1990). <i>Lambiella parvipsephota</i> is known from a single locality on Tasmania’s east coast. It was collected from dolerite cobbles along the sea-shore, just above the high tide mark in a zone where an incipient hinterland lichen community is developing. Associated lichens here include <i>Candelariella vitellina</i> (Hoffm.) Müll.Arg., <i>Lecanora galactiniza</i> Nyl., <i>Lecidella sublapicida</i> (C.Knight) Hertel, <i>Rhizocarpon geographicum</i> (L.) DC., <i>Rinodia thiomela</i> (Nyl.) Müll.Arg., <i>Tephromela atra</i> (Huds.) Hafellner and <i>Xanthoparmelia mougeotina</i> (Nyl.) D.J.Galloway. The new species was found sporadically only in this narrow band, and neither in the immediate hinterland nor in the littoral zone dominated by <i>Caloplaca</i> species and <i>Tylothallia verrucosa</i> (Müll.Arg.) Kantvilas. <i>Additional specimen examined.</i> type locality, 4 August 2013, <i>G</i> <i>. Kantvilas 191/13</i> (HO).
description: Published as part of <i>Kantvilas, Gintaras, 2022, The genus Lambiella Hertel (lichenised fungi) in Tasmania: new combinations, new species and a revised key, pp. 209-218 in Phytotaxa 549 (2)</i> on pages 213-214, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.549.2.6, http://zenodo.org/record/6622828
description: {"references": ["Kantvilas, G. (2014) New species of the genus Rimularia Nyl. from Tasmania. Lichenologist 46: 349 - 364. https: // doi. org / 10.1017 / S 0024282913000595", "Fryday, A. M. &amp; Ovstedal, D. O. (2012) New species, combinations and records of lichenized fungi from the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas). Lichenologist 44: 483 - 500. https: // doi. org / 10.1017 / S 0024282912000163", "Hertel, H. &amp; Rambold, G. (1990) Zur Kenntnis der Familie Rimulariaceae (Lecanorales). Bibliotheca Lichenologica 38: 145 - 189."]}