A new species and four new records of Bacidia (Lecanorales, Ramalinaceae) from South Korea, with a key to Korean species

Abstract

A new species, Bacidia fuscopallida Lee & Heo and four new records, B. ekmaniana R. C. Harris, Ladd & Lendemer, B. friesiana (Hepp) Körb., B. heterochroa (Müll. Arg.) Zahlbr. and B. suffusa (Fr.) A. Schneid., are described from South Korea. Bacidia fuscopallida differs from B. diffracta S. Ekman, the most similar species, by warted but non-granular thallus, paler and smaller apothecia without pruina, proper exciple without crystals, over 11-septate ascospores and smaller pycnidia and pycnoconidia. Bacidia ekmaniana is recorded new to Asia, B. heterochroa is reported new to northeastern Asia and B. friesiana and B. suffusa are new to Korea. Molecular analyses employing internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences strongly support the classification of the five species of Bacidia. A surrogate key is provided to assist in the identification of all 19 taxa in Bacidia of Korea.

High diversity of Bacidia (Ramalinaceae, Lecanorales) species in the Caucasus as revealed by molecular and morphological analyses

“…The representatives from the Lutescens-Hostheleoides group have been characterized by almost colourless or faintly and diffusely pigmented internal apothecial structures (Ekman 1996; Gerasimova et al 2021 b ). In contrast, recently described B. fuscopallida is characterized by the clearly pigmented orange-brown to brown hypothecium (Lee & Hur 2022). However, this clade was inferred to have very long branches in our analyses, suggesting that their relationship warrants further investigation in future studies, including additional samples.…”

“…Bacidia heterochroa inhabits tropical and subtropical areas worldwide (Ekman 1996) and was recently found in South Korea (Lee & Hur 2022). To include nrITS sequences of B. heterochroa from South Korea and keep the informative part of the nrITS alignment, we constrained our alignment to Bacidia Clade I (Supplementary Material Fig.…”

“…In a previous work, phylogenies mainly included specimens from temperate regions (Gerasimova et al 2021 b ), while in this study, we also included representatives from the subtropics. Only the nrITS phylogeny included B. lutescens ( B. thiersiana ), B. hostheleoides , and the recently described B. fuscopallida (Lee & Hur 2022), which formed an unsupported group nested in Clade II. The former two taxa are widespread in south-eastern North America and the Neotropics (Malme 1935; Ekman 1996; Lendemer 2020), while B. fuscopallida is known only from the Gangwon Province in South Korea (Lee & Hur 2022), characterized by a moist, warm, temperate climate (Sayre et al 2020).…”

“…Only the nrITS phylogeny included B. lutescens ( B. thiersiana ), B. hostheleoides , and the recently described B. fuscopallida (Lee & Hur 2022), which formed an unsupported group nested in Clade II. The former two taxa are widespread in south-eastern North America and the Neotropics (Malme 1935; Ekman 1996; Lendemer 2020), while B. fuscopallida is known only from the Gangwon Province in South Korea (Lee & Hur 2022), characterized by a moist, warm, temperate climate (Sayre et al 2020). Further analyses are necessary to clarify the phylogenetic position of this group.…”

“…Bacidia suffusa is mainly known from the eastern temperate region of North America, the Caucasus and Russian Far East (Ekman 1996; Otte 2007 a ; Gerasimova et al 2018), and it was also recently recorded in South Korea (Lee & Hur 2022). The closely related B. areolata Gerasimova & A. Beck is known only from the Far East and is thus still considered endemic.…”