Psoroma capenseandP. esterhuyseniae(Pannariaceae), two new alpine species from South Africa

Abstract

AbstractThe new speciesPsoroma capenseandP. esterhuyseniaeare described from four alpine localities in the Western Cape Province of South Africa and are the only knownPsoromaspecies from Africa. The specimens were all collected from moist sites near watercourses, on cool and mostly south-facing cliffs.Psoroma capenseresemblesP. tenuein gross morphology but differs in the ascending thallus squamules, lack of secondary compounds and short-ellipsoid to ovoid ascospores. However, a phylogenetic analysis involving the markers ITS, nucLSU, mtSSU andMcm7, comparing the only recent collection ofP. capensewith previously published sequences, shows that it belongs to theP. hypnorumlineage, with no known, closely related species.Psoroma esterhuyseniaeresemblesP. hypnorumbut has subglobose to short-ellipsoid ascospores without apical perispore extensions. The two species are thought to have evolved from one or two long-distance dispersal events during the Pleistocene.