Cresponea melanocheiloides (Vain.) Egea & Torrente, 2008

Ertz, Damien, Flakus, Adam, Oset, Magdalena, Sipman, Harrie J. M. & Kukwa, Martin, 2015, A first assessment of lichenized Arthoniales in Bolivia with descriptions of two new species, Phytotaxa 217 (1), pp. 1-25 : 6

Cresponea melanocheiloides (Vain.) Egea & Torrente

Type: — PUERTO RICO. Mameyes, on bark in woods, 1915, B. Fink 768 (lectotype TUR-VAIN 33789!, isolectotype NY!).

The species has been recorded in Bolivia, Brazil, the Caribbean islands and French Guiana ( Egea & Torrente 1993; Flakus 2008), but we have also seen material from Costa Rica and Panama (see below). In the Bolivian material apothecia are mainly orange pruinose and two specimens (AF 10680/1, AF10435) are atypical by having non-cracked apothecial margins. The Bolivian material is characterized by long (55–100 μm) and 9–19-septate ascospores and keys out under C. melanocheiloides in the revision of the genus by Egea & Torrente (1993). However, our specimens have tiny, deep yellow, K+ orange spots in the thallus medulla, a feature not mentioned by Egea & Torrente (1993). So far the recently described C. endosulphurea A.A. Menezes, M. Cáceres & Aptroot was the only member of the genus known with a pigmented medulla, due to the presence of xantholepinone ( Menezes et al. 2013a). The examination of the lectotype of C. melanocheiloides as well as other specimens from NY revealed the same yellow, K+ orange pigment. Cresponea melanocheiloides is therefore the second species of the genus shown to have a xantholepinone, a substance present only in a couple of lichens.

Specimens examined (all corticolous). BOLIVIA. Dept. Cochabamba: Prov. Carrasco, PN Carrasco, near Sehuencas village , 17°30’12”S, 65°16’30”W, 2220 m, Yungas cloud forest, 21 July 2008, AF 10435, MK & PR (KRAM, LPB) ; Prov. Carrasco, PN Carrasco, near Sehuencas village by Río Lopez Mendoza , 17°30’26”S, 65°16’55”W, 2226 m, Yungas cloud forest, 22 July 2008, AF 10680/1, MK & PR (KRAM, LPB) ; Dept. La Paz: Prov. Abel Iturralde, between Ixiamas and Santa Rosa de Maravillas villages, 13°49’16”S, 68°07’18”W, 305 m, preandean Amazon forest , 28 July 2008, AF 11217, 11218 & MK (KRAM, LPB) .

Additional specimens examined (all corticolous). COSTA RICA: Prov. Puntarenas, Península de Osa, Parque Nacional Corcovado , along Sendero Los Naranjos from Estacíon Biológica Sirena to the beach, 8°28’49”N, 83°35’21”W, coastal secondary rain forest, 7 April 2003, W.R. Buck 44124 (NY) . CUBA: Oriente, Bayate , December 1923, B. Hioram 6871 (NY) . DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Prov. Puerto Plata, 4.5 km S of Sosúa-Puerto Plata Hwy at Sosúa just W of Río Sosúa, near source of Río Sosúa , 19°41’N, 70°31’W, moist primary forest near sea level, 24 January 1991, R.C. Harris 26772, W.R. Buck 19337 (NY) ; Prov. La Altagracia, Lomo El Peñon de la Vieja Rufina, 24 km SE of Otra Banda on road to Punta Cana , 138’, 18°38’N, 68°34’W, mesic forest on limestone ridge, 29 March 1981, W.R. Buck 5070 (NY) ; Parque Nacional del Este , along trail from park entrance to sea, 18°21’N, 68°37’W, dry forest, 30 March 1981, W.R. Buck 5114 (NY) . HAITI: Bayeux , 12 August 1903, G.V. Nash 380a (NY) . PANAMA: Canal Zone, Barro Colorado Island , 1940, G.T. Johnson 3414 (NY) . TRINIDAD: Southern Watershed Reserve , 28 March 1920, E.G. Britton, D. Coker & W.R. Rowland 1116, 1123 (NY) .