Aspicilia tibetica, a new terricolous species of the Himalayas and adjacent regions

Abstract

A new species, Aspicilia tibetica Sohrabi & Owe-Larss., is described from Tibet, where it grows on soil and plant debris at altitudes between 4,600 and 5,400 m, and where it seems to be rather commonly distributed. It is characterized by a crustose, white thallus, 8-spored asci with small, globose to ellipsoid ascospores, a brown epihymenium, and non-moniliform to submoniliform paraphyses. It lacks secondary substances. The new species is compared with other terricolous Aspicilia species. Morphological, chemical, and phytogeographical differences between the non-vagrant terricolous species are summarized.

Teuvoa, a new lichen genus inMegasporaceae(Ascomycota:Pertusariales), includingTeuvoa junipericolasp. nov.

“…According to Sohrabi et al (2010 b ), Teuvoa tibetica (syn: Aspicilia tibetica ) is a terricolous species, growing on plant debris at a high altitude in the Tibetan region of China. Teuvoa uxoris s. lat.…”

“…Both T. tibetica and T. uxoris s. lat. show morphological and chemical similarities: 8-spored asci, bacilliform conidia, absence of extrolites (secondary substances) and a subhypothecial algal layer (Rico et al 2007; Sohrabi et al 2010 b ). However, specimens within T. uxoris s. lat.…”

“…str., 'Pachyothallia' clades are currently under investigation using a multi-loci phylogenetic framework and will be presented in a subsequent paper (M. Sohrabi, S. D. Leavitt, A. Nordin & B. Owe-Larsson, unpublished). According to Sohrabi et al (2010b), Teuvoa tibetica (syn: Aspicilia tibetica) is a terricolous species, growing on plant debris at a high altitude in the Tibetan region of China. Teuvoa uxoris s. lat.…”

“…The lichen-forming ascomycete genus Aspicilia s. lat. includes a diverse assemblage of 200–250 species (Owe-Larsson et al 2007; Sohrabi et al 2010 b ) within Megasporaceae (Schmitt et al 2006; Lumbsch et al . 2007; Nordin et al .…”

“…The lichen-forming ascomycete genus Aspicilia s. lat. includes a diverse assemblage of 200-250 species (Owe-Larsson et al 2007;Sohrabi et al 2010b) within Megasporaceae (Schmitt et al 2006;Lumbsch et al 2007;Nordin et al 2010;Sohrabi et al 2013). Re-cent taxonomic studies incorporating molecular sequence data have supported the monophyly of Megasporaceae, while calling for major generic and species-level revisions (Nordin et al 2010;Sohrabi et al 2013).…”