Coppinsiella extremiorientalis I. V. Frolov, Yakovczenko & A. Ezhkin, 2022

Frolov, Ivan V., Prokopiev, Ilya A., Yakovchenko, Lidia S., Galanina, Irina A. & Ezhkin, Alexander K., 2022, Coppinsiella extremiorientalis (Teloschistaceae, lichenized Ascomycota), a new species from the Russian Far East and a new genus to the region, Phytotaxa 549 (2), pp. 219-229 : 222-224

Coppinsiella extremiorientalis I. V. Frolov, Yakovczenko & A. Ezhkin , spec. nov. MycoBank no. 842595

Thallus epiphytic, thin to disappearing, white or whitish grey, rarely with low amounts of anthraquinones, greenish yellow. Vegetative diaspores absent. Apothecia ca. 0.5–0.6 mm diam., zeorine; disc and true exciple dull orange with white pruina; thalline exciple usually with yellow tinge, persistent, but often present only on the lower side of apothecia. Ascospores 10–15 × 5–8 μm, with septa 3–5 μm wide. Anthraquinones composition corresponding to chemosyndrome A.

Type:— RUSSIA. Sakhalin Region: Sakhalin Island, Tymovskoe District, E outskirts of Ado-Tymovo, near bridge over Pilenga river, broad floodplain between rivers Pilenga and Tym’, elev. 40 m, 51°7’56.703”N, 142°41’18.139”E, on bark of Chosenia arbutifolia in low-density forest with large trees of Populus suaveolens s. lat. and Salix spp. and high dense thickets of ferns, Urtica sp. , Petasites amplus etc., 9 July 2019, I. V. Frolov 2332 (holotype LE L–17109 , isotypes H, PRA, hb. Frolov) . GenBank Accession numbers of the sequences of the holotype: OM 337875 (nrITS), OM 337873 (mrSSU).

( Fig. 2 )

Thallus epiphytic, usually poorly developed or even disappearing, continuous or rimose to rimose-areolate with areoles about 0.3 × 0.2 mm and usually uneven surface, irregular in outline, up to ca. 2 cm diam. or, when several thalli merge, forming patches more than 10 cm in length that extend along the bark, white to whitish grey, rarely greenish yellow; thickness of thallus (75–)85–102–122(–175) μm [20; 4; 26]. Cortex on section colourless to grey, alveolate, but usually vivid cells 4–9 μm diam. only distinguishable in thin lower part of cortex; crystals of different form about 1–7 μm size insoluble in K fil cortex section and cover cortex surface; thickness of cortex together with epinecral layer (15–)22–25–28(–38) μm [20; 4; 6]. Algal layer (38–)52–62–67(–100) μm thick [20; 4; 18]; algal cells globose, (7.0–)11.2–12.0–12.9(–19.0) μm diam. [30; 3; 2.4]. Medulla (0–)3–15–27(–43) μm thick [20; 4; 13]. Vegetative diaspores absent. Prothallus absent.

Apothecia (0.40–)0.47–0.54–0.64(–0.85) mm diam. [59; 6; 0.10], zeorine, initially immersed then sessile or adnate. Disc dull orange; true exciple of the same colour as disc or paler; thalline exciple yellow, greenish yellow or rarely of the same colour as thallus, persistent, but often present only on the lower side of apothecia and faintly visible from above; thin white pruina usually present on disc and exciple (less intense). Hymenium (75–)80–88–96(–100) μm high [25; 6; 9], colourless, not glutinized, usually without extracellular oil drops and crystals, sometimes with stacks of crystals in the upper part; epihymenium golden brown, often with colourless crystals about 10–30 × 10–20 μm insoluble in K. Hypothecium (33–)44–56–83(–100) μm high [25; 6; 21], yellowish, with extracellular oil drops, without extracellular crystals, lower two-thirds of the section often formed of spongiose tissue; algal cells present in a layer or rarely absent below hypothecium, and in the latter case hypothecium forms a central conical extension downward. Exciple about 15–110 μm wide, formed of true exciple, (15–)23–33–71(–75) μm wide [25; 6; 15], and thalline exciple, (0–)0–3–9(–38) μm wide [25; 6; 8]. Upper part of true exciple golden brown of thin-walled cells (6.0–)8.4–8.7–9.8(–11.0) × (5.0–)6.0–6.3–6.8(–8.0) μm [34; 5; 1.5 & 0.8]. Thalline exciple with cortex which is usually alveolate, (10–)12–13–15(–15) μm wide [15; 4; 2]; cells of cortex thin-walled ± spherical (4.0–)5.7–6.1–6.9(–8.5) μm diam. [33; 4; 0.9]; section of thalline exciple cortex full of crystals 1.5–5 μm size. Paraphyses slightly branched in upper part, about 1.5–2 μm wide in lower part, gradually slightly widen and the upper cell significantly wider, (4.5–)5.9–6.2–6.8(–8.0) μm wide [55; 6; 0.9]. Asci clavate, (43–)49–53–58(–65) × (8–)12–14–15(–18) μm [39; 6; 5 & 2]. Ascospores 8 per ascus, colourless, polarilocular, (10.0–)11.8–12.5–13.6(–15.0) × (5.0–)5.8–6.3–7.2(–8.0) μm [60; 6; 1.2 & 0.8], with rounded ends. Septa (3.0–)4.0–4.3–4.5(–5.5) μm wide [60; 6; 0.5]. Ascospore length/width ratio: (1.31–)1.78–2.0–2.27(–2.55) [60; 6; 0.26]; septum width/ascospore length ratio: (0.20–)0.30–0.35–0.37(–0.48) [60; 6; 0.05].

Pycnidia not observed.

Chemistry: Epihymenium and upper true exciple with anthraquinones, K+ purple. Thalline cortex K–, rarely in spots with anthraquinones, K+ purple. Apothecia of two specimens (IF2331 and IF2332) were analysed by HPLC, both contain parietin as a major compound, parietinic acid and fallacinal as additional substances, and traces of emodin, emodinal, emodic acid, citreorosein, and teloschistin. The composition of anthraquinones corresponds to chemosyndrome A of Søchting (1997).

Etymology: The epithet reflects the geographic distribution of the new species in the Far East of Asia, which is exceptional in the genus Coppinsiella ( Fig. 3 ).

Ecology and distribution: The new species was collected from bark of deciduous trees ( Chosenia arbutifolia , Populus suaveolens s. lat., Ulmus japonica , and U. laciniata ) in low density light alluvial forests in more or less wide floodplains along rivers in the boreal zone of the Far East, at elevations from ca. 40 m to 400 m above sea level. Associated lichens included Caloplaca ahtii , C. taranii , Gyalolechia ussuriensis , Xanthomendoza ulophyllodes and species of Bacidia , Lecanora , Phaeophyscia and Physconia . Coppinsiella extremiorientalis is currently known from ten localities in the Khabarovsk Territory and the Sakhalin Region of Russia ( Fig. 3 ).

Additional specimens examined (paratypes). RUSSIA. Khabarovsk Territory: Komsomol‘sk District, 51 km NE Boktor, floodplain of Poludenny brook, elev. 400 m, 51°21‘5.000“N, 137°53‘3.001“E, 22 August 2011, L. S. Yakovchenko (hb. Frolov 3021); Vanino District , 88 km E of Vanino , near the road Lidoga–Vanino , wide floodplain of river Sakay-Bapu , elev. 360 m, 49°9’41.209”N, 139°1’55.704”E, 19 July 2021, I. V. Frolov 3019, 3020 (hb. Frolov); Ul’chsky District , 36 km NW of Bogorodskoye, near road to Nikolayevsk-on-Amur , wide floodplain of river Khilka , elev. 40 m, 52°40’38.186”N, 140°12’47.772”E, 19 September 2021, I. V. Frolov 3023 (hb. Frolov) . Sakhalin Region: Sakhalin Island, Tymovskoe District, E outskirts of Ado-Tymovo, near bridge over Pilenga river, broad floodplain between rivers Pilenga and Tym’, elev. 40 m, 51°7’56.703”N, 142°41’18.139”E, 9 July 2019, I. V. Frolov 2432 (locus classicus, hb. Frolov); 7 km SE of Ado-Tymovo, floodplain forest in valley of Pilenga river , elev. 119 m, 51°04’52.3812”N, 142°44’14.4816”E 4 June 2017, A. K. Ezhkin ( IMGG 2041 ); 8 km SE of Ado-Tymovo, floodplain forest in valley of Pilenga river , elev. 112 m, 51°04’30.3744”N, 142°44’47.9363”E, 4 June 2017, A. K. Ezhkin ( IMGG 2047 , 2073 ); 14 km SE of Ado-Tymovo, floodplain forest in valley of Pilenga river , elev. 155 m, 51°02’9.75839”N, 142°49’41.3220”E 5 June 2017, A. K. Ezhkin ( IMGG 2052 ); 16 km SE of Ado-Tymovo, floodplain forest in valley of Pilenga river , elev. 154 m, 51°01’45.6564”N, 142°50’33.7343”E, 5 June 2017, A. K. Ezhkin ( IMGG 2042 , 2050 , 2058 ); 20 km E of Palevo , wide floodplain of river Tym’ , elev. 260 m, 50°37’43.671”N, 143°0’16.310”E, 10 July 2019, I. V. Frolov 2331 (hb. Frolov); Smirnykhovsky District , 15 km SE of Pilvo, near road from Smirnykh to Pilvo , wide floodplain of river Pilevka , elev. 140 m, 49°56’4.898”N, 142°18’15.998”E, 30 June 2019, I. V. Frolov 2426 (hb. Frolov) .

Figures

FIGURE 2. Coppinsiella extremiorientalis (I. Frolov 2331). Scale = 0.5 mm.

FIGURE 3. Geographical distribution of the species of the genus Coppinsiella. Black circles – the newly described C. extremiorientalis, white circles – C. ulcerosa, black triangles – C. substerilis, white squares – C. fiumana, white triangles – C. aff. ulcerosa. Two records of C. ulcerosa in the Southern Hemisphere are not shown. Based on Wetmore (2009), Vondrák et al. (2009, 2013a, 2017), Malíček et al. (2018), and partly on data from GBIF. One icon can combine several localities.