Pseudolepraria stephaniana (Elix, Flakus & Kukwa) Kukwa, Jablonska , Kosecka & Guzow-Krzeminska, 2023

Kukwa, Martin, Kosecka, Magdalena, Jablonska, Agnieszka, Flakus, Adam, Rodriguez-Flakus, Pamela & Guzow-Krzeminska, Beata, 2023, Pseudolepraria, a new leprose genus revealed in Ramalinaceae (Ascomycota, Lecanoromycetes, Lecanorales) to accommodate Lepraria stephaniana, MycoKeys 96, pp. 97-112 : 97

Pseudolepraria stephaniana (Elix, Flakus & Kukwa) Kukwa, Jablonska, Kosecka & Guzow-Krzeminska comb. nov.

Fig. 2

Lepraria stephaniana Elix, Flakus & Kukwa, in Flakus et al., Lichenologist 43: 64, 2011 (2010). Basionym.

Type.

Bolivia. Dept. La Paz: Prov. Iturralde, between Ixiamas and Santa Rosa de Maravillas villages, elev. 305 m, 13°49'16"S, 68°07'18"W, preandean Amazon forest , on bark of tree, 28 July 2008, M. Kukwa 6828 (holotype: UGDA L!; isotypes: B!, BG!, KRAM!, LPB!, NY!) .

Description

(adopted from Flakus et al. 2011a). Thallus crustose, thick, usually not delimited nor lobed, green-grey to creamy-white, not stratified, but sometimes with a poorly differentiated, pseudo-medullary layer of decaying granules. Hypothallus indistinct. Granules coarse with soft appearance, irregularly rounded, up to 100(-200) μm in diam., composed of very lax hyphae mixed with algal cells, usually with projecting hyphae up to c. 30(-50) μm long. Photobiont green, cells globose, up to 12 μm in diam.

Chemistry.

Substances detected: 4- O -methylleprolomin (major), salazinic acid (minor), zeorin (minor) and an unknown terpenoid (minor) with Rf class values A6, B6, C6. Thallus reactions: K+ yellow turning brownish to red, P+ yellow, C-, KC- (see also Flakus et al. 2011a).

Distribution and habitat.

The species is known only from three localities in Bolivia. It was found on bark of trees in transition Chaqueño-Amazon or preandean Amazon forests at elevation between c. 300 to 470 m a.s.l. ( Flakus et al. 2011a; Guzow-Krzemińska et al. 2019b).

Specimens used for DNA extraction

(Table 1 ). Bolivia. Dept. La Paz: Prov. Abel Iturralde, between Santa Rosa de Maravillas and Tumupasa, 13°58'43"S, 67°58'14"W, elev. 300 m, natural Preandean Amazon forest, corticolous, 25 May 2017, M. Kukwa 19740 (LPB, UGDA). Dept. Santa Cruz: Prov. Ichilo, Parque Nacional y Área Natural de Manejo Integrado Amboró, Sendero a la Cascada, near Villa Amboró, 17°44'02"S, 63°35'05"W, elev. 470 m, transition Chaqueño-Amazon forest, in the valley, corticolous, 11 May 2017, M. Kukwa 19267 (LPB, UGDA).

Figures

Figure 2. Morphology of Pseudolepraria stephaniana (type). Scale bar: 0.5 mm.