A new species of the lichenised genus Anamylopsora (Baeomycetaceae, Baeomycetales) from Tengger Desert of China

Abstract

The monotypic lichenised genus Anamylopsora (Baeomycetaceae, Baeomycetales), with its single species A.pulcherrima, is distributed in the arid areas of the Northern Hemisphere, including China. In this paper, we introduce another species new to science, Anamylopsorapruinosa. The new species is characterised by a densely pruinose upper surface, abundantly thick and strong rhizines and terricolous habitat. It is also strongly supported by the phylogenetic and species delimitation analyses based on nrDNA ITS sequences, in which A.pruinosa forms well-supported clade separated from A.pulcherrima.

A new species of the genusAnamylopsora(Baeomycetaceae; Ascomycota) from Deosai National Park, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan

“…Superfically, the new species resembles Anamylopsora altaica, due to the thallus shape and presence of black apothecia (Ahat et al 2019). It also shares some common characteristics with the two other remaining species of the genus, A. pulcherrima and A. pruinosa , including dark brown to black marginal apothecia, a pruinose thallus, globose to subglobose and unicellular algal cells, clavate to subcylindrical asci and hyaline bacilliform pycnidiospores (Timdal 1991; Zuo et al 2018).…”

“…Anamylopsora pakistanica also has a thicker algal layer, 229–360 μm in depth, compared to that in A. altaica (135–195 μm), A. pruniosa (50–150 μm) and A. pulcherrima (120–220 μm). In addition, A. pakistanica has a thick hymenium, 90–151 μm, in contrast to that present in A. altaica (95–115 μm), A. pruniosa (75–100 μm) and A. pulcherrima (60–100 μm) (Timdal 1991; Zuo et al 2018; Ahat et al 2019).…”

“…Anamylopsora pakistanica forms asci up to 82 μm in length while A. pulcherrima has larger asci up to 125 μm in length. Anamylopsora pakistanica also has ellipsoid ascospores with a thick-walled and smooth surface whereas A. altaica and A. pruinosa have thin-walled ascospores with a warty surface (Timdal 1991; Zuo et al 2018; Ahat et al 2019). Other differences of A. pakistanica are the thick epinecral layer up to 25 μm, whereas in A. pulcherrima the layer is only 5–10 μm thick and is absent in A. altaica.…”

“…A comprehensive representation of currently available sequences used for the phylogenetic analyses are presented in Table 1, together with GenBank Accession numbers, country distribution and reference. The sequences used in the ITS and LSU dataset were retrieved from GenBank based on inclusion of all published sequences from the genus Anamylopsora (Zuo et al 2018; Ahat et al 2019) together with unpublished Anamylopsora sequence data showing 79% or greater nucleotide identity. Sequences of Baeomyces rufus (Huds.)…”

“…Timdal from Russia and North America. All of these species have been reported from high-altitudinal regions at elevations up to 3900 m (Timdal 1991; Zuo et al 2018; Ahat et al 2019; Esslinger 2021).…”