Corresponding author: Memoona Khan (
Academic editor: G. Rambold
We describe here a new species,
Khan M, Khalid AN, Lumbsch TH (2018) A new species of
Pakistan is a country with a broad altitudinal range from sea level at the Arabian Sea to the second highest point of the world (K-2) at 8,611 m (
The genus
Collections were made in August 2016 during a mycological survey of Gabin Jabba and Malam Jabba (Swat Valley) where altitude varies from 600 m to 2500 m. These areas have a moist temperate climate and remain under snow cover during winter while the summer season is accompanied by a significant amount of rainfall. Standard microscopy and spot tests (
We used apothecia to extract DNA with Fungal/Bacterial DNA Miniprep Kit (Zymo Research Corp., Irvine, CA) following the manufacturer’s instructions. Molecular data were generated for two loci: the internal transcribed spacer (
The
GenBank accession numbers of sequences used in phylogenetic analyses.
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PAKISTAN. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Swat district, Gabin Jabba valley, 1600 m alt.,
Saxicolous, thallus irregularly areolate, apothecia epruinose, lecideine with persistent margin, asci with tholus, I+ blue, ascospores simple, ellipsoid with average size of 8–10 × 4.5–5.5 µm.
Thallus crustose, irregularly areolate, subcontiguous; prothallus usually indistinct, black when present; areoles flat, up to 1.2 mm in diameter and 300 µm thick, uniformity in colour from centre to edge; surface rough, not shiny, greenish-grey to light brown; Cortex not clearly differentiated, up to 31.5 μm in thickness; medulla I-, medullary hyphae thin walled, compactly arranged, 2.4–3.2 µm in diameter; photobiont layer up to 63 µm thick, algal cells 12.8–14.4 µm; apothecia black, round to irregular in outline, up to 1.5 mm in diameter, lecideine, epruinose with slightly raised, black, thin and persistent margin, frequently present, disc black, flat to slightly convex, proper exciple thin, dark brown to black; epihymenium light brown to dark brown, 8–16 µm; hymenium hyaline to olivaceous brown, (60)-70–98 µm tall; subhymenium light brown to dark brown, Hypothecium darkly pigmented throughout, Asci clavate with distinct tholus, the tip I+ blue, 8-spored, 50–68 × 12.30–16.70 µm; Ascospores simple, ellipsoid, (7)8–10(11) × (4)4.5–5.5(6) µm; paraphyses branched and net-like, 1.6–2.4 µm wide, not expanded at tips; vegetative propagules and conidiomata not seen.
Thallus K-, KC+, C+ Red, P-, UV-. Gyrophoric acid, schizopeltic acid and 2’-
The species is so far only known from two collections in the Swat district in Pakistan, where the species occurs on exposed siliceous rocks between 1600 and 1900 m altitude.
The epithet “
The areoles of
Most likely phylogenetic relationship of
Phylogenetic relationships of
In addition,
Molecular analyses of
Pakistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Swat district, Malam Jabba valley, 1900 m alt., on rock, 20 Aug 2016, AN Khalid, MJ-3 (LAH-35506).
The first author is thankful to the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC) for providing support for her research at The Field Museum of Chicago under the IRSIP programme. We are grateful to Dr. André Aptroot for his help with the identification of