New lichenized Arthoniales and Ostropales from Mexican seasonally dry tropical forest

The weight of the crust: Biomass of crustose lichens in tropical dry forest represents more than half of foliar biomass

“…Among the different tropical ecosystems, the tropical dry forest (TDF) (Holdridge, 1967; Olson et al., 2001) is the most extensive and represents 42% of the forested tropical land in the world (Murphy & Lugo, 1986a, 1995). Studies from TDFs in Mexico (Herrera‐Campos et al., 2019; Miranda‐González, 2012), Colombia (Lücking et al., 2019), Ecuador (Benítez, Aragón, & Prieto, 2019), and from Brazilian caatingas (Cáceres, Lücking, & Rambold, 2008) showed that lichens in this ecosystem are diverse and abundant; for instance, more than 380 species are reported for Mexican TDFs (Herrera‐Campos et al., 2014). The abundance of epiphytic lichens in some TDFs is remarkably evident during the extended dry season, when most plants lose their leaves completely.…”

“…Among the different tropical ecosystems, the tropical dry forest (TDF) (Holdridge, 1967;Olson et al, 2001) is the most extensive and represents 42% of the forested tropical land in the world (Murphy & Lugo, 1986a. Studies from TDFs in Mexico (Herrera-Campos et al, 2019;Miranda-González, 2012), Colombia (Lücking et al, 2019), Ecuador (Benítez, Aragón, & Prieto, 2019), and from Brazilian caatingas (Cáceres, Lücking, & Rambold, 2008) showed that lichens in this ecosystem are diverse and abundant;…”

New scientific discoveries: Plants and fungi

“…The new species were discovered in a range of diverse locations including high altitude tea plantations in Sri Lanka, the Altai Mountains in Russia and various islands such as the Falklands (Malvinas), Galapagos, and Lord Howe (Archer & Elix, 2019; Bungartz & Spielmann, 2019; Fryday, 2019; Weerakoon, Aptroot, Lücking, Arachchige, & Wijesundara, 2019; Yakovchenko, Davydov, Ohmura, & Printzen, 2019; Figure 4c). In two of the most globally threatened tropical biomes—the seasonally dry tropical forests of Mexico and the Atlantic forests in Northeast Brazil—multiple species descriptions were concentrated in the orders Arthoniales and Ostropales (de Lima et al, 2019; de los Ángeles Herrera‐Campos et al., 2019).…”

Bactrospora totonacae (Arthoniales, Ascomycota), una nueva especie de Veracruz, México

“…Guzmán-Guillermo et al (2019) and García-Martinez et al (2021) reported Bactrospora jenikii (Vězda) Egea & Torrente and Bactrospora denticulata (Vain.) Egea & Torrente, respectively from coastal ecosystems in Quintana Roo (southeastern Mexico) and Herrera-Campos et al (2019) described Bactrospora lecanorina Herrera-Camp., Altamirano & Lücking from Jalisco. The current systematics of this genus follows the combination of characters like shape, measures, and amiloidity of its apothecia and the type of its spores, since the morphology is somewhat simple.…”

“…Bactrospora A. Massal is a crustose genus characterized by its black, verrucose to denticulate and little apothecia, mostly acicular and sometimes muriform spores, usually longer than wide, and its particular Bactrospora-type asci (Egea and Torrente, 1993). The genus is represented by approximately 38 species, considering the 34 accepted species (Lücking et al, 2017;Wijayawardene et al, 2018) and some of them recently described (van den Boom et al, 2018;Herrera-Campos et al, 2019). Bactrospora has a cosmopolitan distribution, both in tropical and temperate ecosystems (Egea and Torrente, 1993;Sobreira et al, 2015), with several species that are only known from the type locality (Egea and Torrente, 1993;Sobreira et al, 2015).…”