tailieunhanh - New species and new records of lichenized Ascomycota from tropical deciduous forests of the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot, India

Stirtonia ghattensis Sumesh N. Dudani, Nayaka, Komal K. Ingle & S. Joseph sp. nov. having UV+ white thallus, 4–6-spored asci, and 5(–7)-septate ascospores and lacking lichen substances is described as new to science. | Turkish Journal of Botany Turk J Bot (2018) 42: 346-353 © TÜBİTAK doi: Research Article New species and new records of lichenized Ascomycota from tropical deciduous forests of the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot, India Sumesh N. DUDANI, Sanjeeva NAYAKA*, Komal K. INGLE, Siljo JOSEPH Lichenology Laboratory, Council of Scientific & Industrial Research – National Botanical Research Institute, Rana Pratap Marg, Lucknow, India Received: Accepted/Published Online: Final Version: Abstract: Stirtonia ghattensis Sumesh N. Dudani, Nayaka, Komal K. Ingle & S. Joseph sp. nov. having UV+ white thallus, 4–6-spored asci, and 5(–7)-septate ascospores and lacking lichen substances is described as new to science. Pertusaria mesotropa Müll. Arg. is reported for the first time from India. Bacidia subannexa (Nyl.) Zahlbr., Graphis caesiella Vain., G. handelii Zahlbr., Hemithecium scariosum Makhija & Adaw., and Pertusaria coccodes (Ach.) Nyl. are new records for Western Ghats. Arthothelium aphanocarpum (Nyl.) Zahlbr., which had a restricted distribution in the Andaman Islands, is collected from the mainland of India for the first time. An updated world key for 28 Stirtonia taxa known to date is provided. Key words: Arthoniomycetes, Lecanoromycetes, Stirtonia, biodiversity, taxonomy, Karnataka state 1. Introduction Among the various biogeographic regions in India, the Western Ghats is an important habitat for numerous endemic, rare, and endangered taxa of flora and fauna. The Western Ghats has rich diversity of lichens represented by 1138 species, of which 266 are endemic. The region has a maximum number of crustose lichens with 728 species (Nayaka and Asthana, 2014). Novel taxa are constantly being reported from the Western Ghats (., Subramanya and Krishnamurthy, 2015; Joshi and Upreti, 2016; Kumar and Krishnamurthy, 2016), which indicates that the lichen exploration in the region is