Psoroglaena spinosa Weerakoon & Aptroot, 2016

Weerakoon, Gothamie & Aptroot, André, 2016, Nine new lichen species and 64 new records from Sri Lanka, Phytotaxa 280 (2), pp. 152-162 : 157

Psoroglaena spinosa Weerakoon & Aptroot , sp. nov. ( Fig. 2E–G )

Mycobank No.: MB 817614

Psoroglaena with microfruticose thallus, corticate, smooth, dull, rather bright green, covering areas of up to 1 mm only, consisting of tiny squamules that are dissected into branched, somewhat moniliform threads that are almost equally wide along their whole length,

without prothallus; threads c. 20–25 μm wide, for the major part in one plane, partly emerging in other directions; cortex hyaline,

papillose, papillae dense and high, c. 1 μm wide and c. 2 μm high.

Type: — SRI LANKA. Sinharaja, 15 February 2015, G.Weerakoon & P.Wolseley Si4 (holotype PD, isotype F). Thallus microfruticose, corticate, smooth, dull, rather bright green, covering areas of up to 1 mm only, consisting of tiny squamules that are dissected into branched, somewhat moniliform threads that are almost equally wide along their whole length, without prothallus. Threads c. 20–25 μm wide, for the major part in one plane, partly emerging in other directions. Branching dichotomous anisotomic. Cortex hyaline, papillose, papillae dense and high, c. 1 μm wide and c. 2 μm high. Algae chlorococcoid, c. 4–6 μm diam., 2–3-seriate, but unordered. Ascomata and pycnidia not observed. Chemistry. Not evaluated.

Distribution and habitat: —On tree in wet lowland tropical rain forest. Only known from Sri Lanka.

Discussion: —This species has the densest and by far the longest cortical papillae of any Psoroglaena . It is close to the foliicolous neotropical P. ornata Herrera-Campos & Lücking in Herrera-Campos et al. (2004: 179; Lücking 2008) in general aspect, but differs by the longer papillae, the absence of a prothallus and the unordered algal cells that are also more numerous.

Figures

FIGURE 2. A–B, Porina microtriseptata, A, habitus, B, ascospores; C–D, Porina monilisidiata, C, habitus, D, ascospores; E–G, Psoroglaena spinosa, E, habitus, F–G, detail; H–J, Pyrenula multicolorata, H, habitus with sectioned ascoma, I, hamathecium, J, ascospores; K–N, Schistophoron muriforme, K, habitus, L, section through ascoma showing mazaedium, M–N, ascospores. Scale: A, D, H = 0.5 mm, B, M, N = 20 μm, E, K, L = 0.25 mm, F–G = 50 μm, I–J = 25 μm.