Pyrenula cinnabarina Aptroot, E.L. Lima & M. Cáceres, 2015

Aptroot, André, Andrade, Dannyelly Santos, Mendonça, Cléverton, Lima, Edvaneide Leandro De & Cáceres, Marcela Eugenia Da Silva, 2015, Ten new species of corticolous pyrenocarpous lichens from NE Brazil, Phytotaxa 197 (3), pp. 197-206 : 203

Pyrenula cinnabarina Aptroot, E.L. Lima & M. Cáceres , sp. nov. ( Fig. 3D–F )

Mycobank #811021

Pyrenula with thallus dark carmine red, ascomata 5–30 fused sideways, hamathecium not inspersed, ascospores 3-septate, 12–15 × 6–7 μm.

Holotype: — BRAZIL. Pernambuco: Buíque, Parque Nacional Vale do Catimbau ; alt. c. 880 m; on bark of tree; August 2012, E.L. Lima 01794 ( URM 86516 ; isotype: ABL).

Thallus thin, surface granular, dark carmine red, without pseudocyphellae, without prothallus. Ascomata superficial, globose, 0.2–0.35 mm diam., in groups of 5–30 fused sideways with clearly fused walls but with separate ostioles, completely covered by thallus. Wall carbonized all around. Ostiole apical, pale, nearly whitish. Hamathecium not inspersed with oil droplets. Ascospores 8/ascus, brown, uniseriate, 3-septate, 12–15 × 6–7 μm, lumina mostly diamond-shaped, separated from the wall by a thick layer of endospore. Pycnidia not observed. Chemistry: Thallus K+ crimson, UV + orange; TLC revealed an anthraquinone with pink colour at Rf 2.

Ecology and distribution: —On smooth bark in undisturbed Caatinga forest. Only known from Brazil.

Discussion: —This bright red species is very conspicuous already in the field. The type collection contins of few branches that are fully covered by this species. It is close to Pyrenula reginae E.L. Lima, Aptroot & M. Cáceres ( Lima et al. 2013: 199), which grows in the same area, and mainly differs by the inspersed hamathecium.

Figures

FIGURE 3 Pyrenula aurantiacorubra; A, field picture of a tree covered with the species in the field; B, ascospores showing the variation in size even within a single ascus (isotypeABL); C, habitus showing brown, raised ascomata (isotype ABL); D–F, P.cinnabarina (isotypeABL); D, twig