Cora neopseudobovei Oset, Flakus & Guzow-Krzem., 2025

Oset, Magdalena, Flakus, Adam & Guzow-Krzemińska, Beata, 2025, Two new species of Cora (lichenized Basidiomycota, Lichenomphaliaceae) and additional records from Bolivia, MycoKeys 126, pp. 1-18 : 1-18

Cora neopseudobovei Oset, Flakus & Guzow-Krzem. sp. nov.

Fig. 4

Diagnosis.

Species very similar to C. pseudobovei , but differing in the distinct phylogenetic position within the genus, and in substitution of several nucleotide posititions in nuITS (see also Suppl. material 2). The diagnostic features of the species are the small, macrosquamulose, up to 2 cm across brown upper surface thallus when fresh, pale yellow to orange-yellow when dry, with slightly visible concentric colour zonation when dry and also with involute, creamy white margins.

Type.

Bolivia • Dept. La Paz; Prov. Franz Tamayo, ANMIN Apolobamba, near Puyo Puyo village , 14°56'55"S, 69°07'58"W, elev. 4888 m, high Andean open vegetation, 5 July 2010, A. Flakus 17603 & P. Rodriguez ( holotype KRAM; isotype LPB) .

Description.

Thallus lichenized, terricolous, foliose, small, macrosquamulose, up to 2 cm across, composed of up to 8 semicircular, adjacent to subimbricate lobes; individual lobes up to 1.2 cm wide and 6 mm long, moderately branched, without radial branching sutures, surface brown when fresh, with slightly visible concentric colour zonation when dry, with involute, creamy white margins. Upper surface shallowly undulate or scabrous when fresh and dry, involute margins undulate; lower surface excorticate, felty-arachnoid (representing the exposed medulla), brown-olive. Thallus in section 200–300 μm thick, with upper cortex, photobiont layer, and medulla; upper cortex collapsed compacted, formed by up 40 μm thick layer of loosely packed, irregularly arranged; photobiont layer up to 100 μm thick, orange above, aeruginous below, separated from the medulla by a thick, compacted layer of brownish hyphae; medulla 100 μm thick, often indistinct; clamp connections absent, papilliform hyphae absent. Hymenophore in section 50 μm thick, spores 5 × 3 μm, basidioles 20–25 × 3–6 μm. Sterigmata 4. Chemistry: No substances detected by TLC.

Habitat and distribution.

Cora neopseudobovei is known from four localities in La Paz department (Bautista and Franz Tamayo provinces), occurring at elevations between 3780 m and 4888 m in open area with shrubs and high Andean vegetation. The species was found on soil.

Etymology.

The name refers to the similarity in morphology to Cora pseudobovei .

Additional material examined.

Bolivia • Dept. La Paz; Prov. Bautista Saavedra, ANMIN Apolobamba, between la Curva and Charazani , 15°08'09"S, 69°02'03"W, elev. 3780 m, open area with shrubs, Ceja de Monte Superior (Altimontano), terricolous, 15 Nov. 2014, M. Kukwa 14700 ( UGDA; LPB) . • La Cumbre close to road Charazani-Pelechuco , 14°48'10"S, 69°10'51"W, elev. 4853 m, open high Andean vegetation close to lake and bofedales, 3 June 2017, A. Flakus 29538 ( KRAM L-69723 ) . • Prov. Franz Tamayo, ANMIN Apolobamba, Socondori Chico near Ulla Ulla village , 15°00'38"S, 69°13'48"W, elev. 4479 m, high Andean open vegetation, 4 July 2010, A. Flakus 17456 & P. Rodriguez ( KRAM; LPB) .

Notes.

All specimens of the new species form thalli of a similar size (up to 2 cm across, composed of 10–20 semicircular lobes) characterised by undulate upper surface, with smooth involute margins. The species is morphologically and ecologically similar to C. bovei and C. pseudobovei ( Lücking et al. 2013, 2017). Cora bovei and C. neopseudobovei are characterised by undulate upper surface, but C. bovei forms larger lobes. While C. pseudobovei forms a thallus that is similar in size (up to 2 cm across, composed of 10–20 semicircular lobes), the involute margins are smooth, not undulate like in C. neopseudobovei , and the upper surface is darker (brown) than in the newly described species ( Lücking et al. 2013, 2017).

According to Lücking et al. (2017) species forming the Cora bovei group are morphologically and ecologically similar to C. squamiformis Wilk, Lücking & Yánez-Ayabaca and C. terricoleslia Wilk, Dal-Forno & Lücking. However , on the global phylogeny of Cora they are in two unrelated clades, showing another striking example of parallelism in this genus ( Lücking et al. 2017).

Figures

Figure 4. Morphology of Cora neopseudobovei (holotype). A. Upper surface (thallus is wet); B. Individual lobes (thallus is dry). Scale bars: 10 mm (A, B).