Corresponding author: H. Thorsten Lumbsch (
Academic editor: G. Rambold
A new species and genus,
Sodamuk M, Boonpragob K, Mongkolsuk P, Tehler A, Leavitt SD, Thorsten Lumbsch HT (2017)
Coastal forests in the tropics, especially mangroves, are species-rich habitats and constitute an important part of tropical biodiversity (
Recent studies on the diversity of lichen-forming fungi in Thailand have dramatically increased our knowledge of these organisms in Southeast Asia, with numerous new records and new species discovered in a number of different habitats, including coastal forests (
During a recent survey of crustose lichens in mangrove habitats of eastern Thailand, the first author collected a species that appeared undescribed and while superficially resembling the common, pantropical
Specimens were studied from the herbaria F, KoLRI, RAMK, and the private herbarium of Klaus Kalb (Neumarkt). Morphological characters were studied using a Leica Wild M 8 dissecting microscope. Observations and measurements of ascospores were made in water at 630× magnification with a Zeiss Axioscope microscope.
Chemical constituents were identified using high-performance thin layer chromatography (
Total genomic DNA was extracted from thallus fragments following the manufacturers’ instructions using the ZR Fungal/Bacterial DNA Miniprep Kit (Zymo Research Corp., Irvine, CA).
THAILAND, Trat Province: Muang District, Nhong Sa Nho Subdistrict, the route to Nature Education Center Ban Pak Khlong Nam Chiew, on the bark of
Morphology and anatomy of
Characterized by having asci of the
The specific epithet refers to the occurrence of the species in the Paleotropics, whereas the genus is named after our colleague Klaus Kalb who has made tremendous contributions to our knowledge of tropical lichens and who has been enormously helpful to colleagues in Thailand.
Thallus crustose, corticolous, greenish grey to whitish grey (green fading in herbarium); surface continuous, verruculose, somewhat glossy, prothallus not visible; isidia and soredia absent; corticate, cortex 25–40 µm thick, covered by a thin, epinecral layer; photobiont chlorococcoid; medulla indistinct, penetrating into the periderm. Ascomata apothecia, simple, dispersed to crowded, disc plane to convex, grayish green to gray, 0.6–1.6 mm diam.; margin white to whitish grey, thick, entire to flexuous; exciple biatorine, prosoplectenchymatous, incrusted with numerous crystals; hymenium clear, amyloid; paraphyses simple to slightly branched, apically not or slightly thickened; epihymenium distinct, yellowish brown, granulose with numerous small brown crystals, rapidly dissolving in KOH, 3–4 µm thick; hypothecium brown to dark brown, 100–140 µm thick; asci cylindrical, tholus uniformly amyloid, corresponding to the
Thallus K+ yellowish, C–, P+ yellow; containing atranorin, stictic acid and zeorin as major constituents, and cryptostictic acid, norstictic acid, peristictic acid, and the chlorinated xanthones arthothelin and 6-
The new species was found in coastal forests in eastern Thailand, Vietnam, and northeastern Australia (Queensland), growing on bark. It is known only from a few localities but is expected to be more common and potentially overlooked in mangrove forests of Southeast Asia and Australia.
Morphologically similar is the genus
Australia, Queensland: Daintree National Park, Cape Tribulation, c. 63km N of Mossman, in a dense tropical, coastal rainforest, dominated by
Sequences of
In our phylogenetic analysis assessing the relationship of
Phylogenetic tree depicting the relationship of
In
This study was financially supported by grants of the National Research Council of Thailand (grant No. 183076). We are grateful to Klaus Kalb (Neumarkt/Opf.) for sending us a specimen of
Phylogenetic tree depicting phylogenetic relationships of
molecular data
Bootstrap support values above 50% are displayed at nodes.