Cenozosia cava Jung & Werner sp. nov.

Fig. 4

Type.

Chile. Atacama Desert, Pan de Azucar National Park (25°59'03"S, 70°36'55"W; 764 m a.s.l.) specimen HBG-025793 (Herbarium Hamburgense, Hamburg, Germany).

Diagnosis.

Similar to Niebla ceruchis, but this species has not been verified from the Atacama Desert. C. cava also forms smaller and rarer apothecia.

Etymology.

Epithet ' Cenozosia cava ' refers to the hollow thallus.

Description.

Thallus white to gray and strongly wrinkled or folded in the dry state, gray-green and significantly less wrinkled if hydrated, divided into many long, uniformly narrow cylindrical-teretiform, flexuous branches from a pale brown to blackened base, up to 7.0 cm long and 0.5 cm thick. Mostly made of primary, fastigiate branches, sometimes dichotomously divided. Cortex present, gray, 40-60 μm thick. Medulla white, very loose, with single hyphal strands crisscrossing the hollow interior of the thalli. Apothecia, round, flat, bowl-shaped when young, pale brown to slightly orange with a pale, concave, pink disc, mostly emerging lateral, sometimes terminal, up to 0.8 cm in diameter. Spores two-celled, divided by a septum. Pycnidia black, forming conspicuous, conical protrusions throughout the thallus. Trebouxioid photobiont arranged in nests throughout the loose medulla network.

Secondary metabolites.

Decarboxynorstenosporic acid, decarboxydivaricatic acid, zeorin, fatty acids. UV-, K-, C+ red, KC-, P-.

Distribution and ecology.

Epiphytically directly on cacti stems, preferably on Eulychnia sp., in the fog zones together with C. excorticata and various Ramalina species.

Notes.

The species is similar to Niebla ceruchis but can clearly be differentiated from the latter based on its phylogeny and the smaller, less pronounced formation of apothecia.