Lobariella sipmanii Moncada, Betancourt & Lücking
Thallus growing on trunks and stems of small trees, up to 8 cm diam., very loosely attached; individual lobes up to 3 cm long, irregular to rounded, 5–15 mm wide, irregularly branched. Photobiont cyanobacterial (Nostoc). Upper surface pale blue-grey, glabrous, densely white-reticulate through the formation of elongate-linear maculae; lower surface white to yellowish white, white-tomentose; tomentum up to 1.5 mm thick, formed by branched hairs with globose cells. Lobe margins entire to coarsely crenulate; isidia and soralia absent. Upper cortex paraplectenchymatous, consisting of 4–6 cell layers, 30–45 µm thick, hyaline; cyanobacterial layer 80–130 µm thick; medulla composed of longitudinally oriented hyphae, up to 180 µm thick; lower cortex paraplectenchymatous, consisting of 2–6 cell layers from which the tomentum emerges, 12–25 µm thick, hyaline. Apothecia abundant, cup-shaped, up to 8 mm diam., with thick, strongly prominent, more or less entire to irregular but not distinctly lobulate, white margins; disc concave, vividly orange-brown. Ascospores fusiform to acicular, 55–115 x 4–5 µm, 5–9-septate, hyaline. Pycnidia not observed. Secondary chemistry: gyrophoric acid (major) and satellite substances; medulla C+ rose to red, K–, P–.
Mycobank #: MB 519082
Lobariella is a small genus in Lobariaceae, currently comprising five species that are characterized by forming pseudocyphellae or maculae on the upper surface and a more or less continuous, white tomentum on the lower surface (Yoshimura, 1984, 1998, 2002; Yoshimura & Arvidsson, 1994). The species of this group, first designated as L. crenulata group, were subsequently separated in the genus Durietzia Yoshim., which turned out to be an illegitimate later homonym of Durietzia Gyeln. Yoshimura (2002) therefore introduced the replacement name Lobariella for this group. Only three species were formally recombined in Lobariella (Yoshimura, 2002) and the following two species have been recombined subsequently (Lumbsch et al. 2010): Lobariella botryoides (Yoshim. & Arv.) Moncada & Lücking [Lobaria botryoides Yoshim. & Arv., Acta Bot. Fenn. 150: 226 (1994); Durietzia botryoides (Yoshim. & Arv.) Yoshim., Recollecting Edvard August Vainio (São Paulo): 91 (1998)] and Lobariella pallida (Hook. f.) Moncada & Lücking [Sticta pallida Hook f. in Kunth, Syn. Plant. Aequinoct. Orb. Novi 1: 28 (1822); Lobaria pallida (Hook. f.) Trevis., Lichenotheca Veneta: no. 75 (1869); Durietzia pallida (Hook. f.) Yoshim., Recollecting Edvard August Vainio (São Paulo): 91 (1998)]. The new species is only the second one in the genus having a cyanobacterial photobiont after L. botryoides; all other species have green photobionts. Lobariella sipmanii differs from L. botryoides in the more or less smooth surface which lacks reticulate ridges; instead, the surface is very strongly reticulate-maculate. In addition, isidia and soralia are absent and apothecia are abundantly formed. Because of the different lobe morphology, L. sipmanii cannot be considered the fertile counterpart of L. botryoides. Except for the photobiont, the new species resembles L. crenulata (Hook. f.) Yoshim. and L. pallida in the richly apotheciate thallus with the white, reticulate pattern of the lobe surface, but differs from both latter species in several details: L. crenulata has a more strongly attached thallus with conspicuous pseudocyphellae that only partly form a reticulate pattern; in addition, the apothecial margins are strongly lobulate. Lobaria pallida shares with L. sipmanii the loosely attached thallus and the formation of reticulate maculae, but the maculae are usually less distinct and also in that species, the apothecial margin is strongly lobulate. Therefore, L. sipmanii cannot be considered a photomorph of either L. crenulata or L. pallida.
We dedicate this species to our colleague, mentor, and friend Harrie Sipman for his invaluable contributions to lichenology in the Neotropics.
The species is known from several collection at the type locality, growing in partial shade on the lower to mid-trunks and stems of small trees of Diplostephium revolutum S. F. Blake, associated with Lobariella pallida and mosses of the family Dicranaceae.
Type:—COLOMBIA: Cundinamarca: Bogotá D.C., Páramo de Sumapaz, Laguna de Chisacá; 4°18’N, 74°13’W, 3725 m; paramo vegetation with with Diplostephium revolutum S. F. Blake, Espeletia spp. and Pentacalia spp.; Aug 2010; Lücking et al. s.n. (holotype UDBC; isotype F).
Additional specimens examined (paratypes):—COLOMBIA: Cundinamarca: Bogotá D.C., Páramo de Sumapaz, Laguna de Chisacá; Mondada et al. 4084, 4098 (UDBC).
Sicut Lobariella botryoides sed apotheciis instructis differt.