Circinaria nimisii (Megasporaceae, lichenized Ascomycota), a new manna lichen from Greece

Abstract

The manna lichens, a group of vagrant species with subfruticose and subfoliose thalli in the genus Circinaria Link, have received attention for millennia. Here, a new manna lichen species, Circinaria nimisii sp. nov. (Megasporaceae), is described and illustrated. This vagrant lichen is found on Mount Olympus in Greece and is the fourth known manna lichen in Europe. The new taxon is characterized by its subfruticose, densely-branched thallus with a muddy, earthy colour, whitish pseudocyphellae on tips of branches, mature apothecia distinctly adnate to stipitate, and paraplectenchymatous cortex tissue. Molecular sequence data from the standard barcoding marker (nrITS) also corroborate the distinction of this species from closely related congeners. Finally, Agrestia zerovii, previously known only from its type locality in Ukraine, is proposed as a new synonym of Circinaria hispida.

Circinaria persepolitana (Megasporaceae), a new lichen species from historic stone surfaces in Persepolis, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Iran

“…or Chlorangium Link (Sohrabi et al 2013 a ). Circinaria species have received great attention in recent years, especially the vagrant taxa (Nordin et al 2010; Sohrabi et al 2013 a ; McCune & Di Meglio 2021), and several new species have been described from Iran (Sohrabi et al 2013 a ), China (Ismayil et al 2015, 2019), Greece (Sohrabi et al 2023), Italy (Nascimbene et al 2023) and the USA (Owe-Larsson et al 2011; McCune & Di Meglio 2021). Crustose species of the genus are primarily epilithic, and have grey to olive-brown thalli, with or without a grey prothallus.…”