Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T19:49:25.673Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Four new Micarea species from the montane cloud forests of Taita Hills, Kenya

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 March 2021

Annina Kantelinen Open the ORCID record for Annina Kantelinen [Opens in a new window] ,
Marko-Tapio Hyvärinen ,
Paul M. Kirika  and
Leena Myllys Open the ORCID record for Leena Myllys [Opens in a new window]
Annina Kantelinen*
Affiliation:
Botany Unit, Finnish Museum of Natural History, P.O. Box 7, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland
Marko-Tapio Hyvärinen
Affiliation:
Botany Unit, Finnish Museum of Natural History, P.O. Box 7, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland
Paul M. Kirika
Affiliation:
East African Herbarium, National Museums of Kenya, P.O. Box 40658, 00100Nairobi, Kenya
Leena Myllys
Affiliation:
Botany Unit, Finnish Museum of Natural History, P.O. Box 7, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland
*
Author for correspondence: Annina Kantelinen (formerly Launis). E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The genus Micarea was studied for the first time in the Taita Hills, Kenya. Based on new collections and existing data, we reconstructed a phylogeny using ITS, mtSSU and Mcm7 regions, and generated a total of 27 new sequences. Data were analyzed using maximum likelihood and maximum parsimony methods. Based mainly on new collections, we discovered four undescribed well-supported lineages, characterized by molecular and phenotypic features. These lineages are described here as Micarea pumila, M. stellaris, M. taitensis and M. versicolor. Micarea pumila is characterized by a minutely granular thallus, small cream-white or pale brownish apothecia, small ascospores and the production of prasinic acid. Micarea stellaris has a warted-areolate thallus, cream-white apothecia usually darker at the centre, a hymenium of light grey or brownish pigment that dissolves in K, and intense crystalline granules that appear as a belt-like continuum across the lower hymenium when studied in polarized light. Micarea taitensis is characterized by a warted-areolate thallus and cream-white or yellowish apothecia that sometimes produce the Sedifolia-grey pigment. Micarea versicolor is characterized by a warted-areolate, sometimes partly granular thallus and apothecia varying from cream-white to light grey to blackish in colour. This considerable variation in the coloration of its apothecia is caused by an occasional mixture of the Sedifolia-grey pigment in the epihymenium and another purplish brown pigment in the hymenium. Micarea stellaris, M. taitensis and M. versicolor produce methoxymicareic acid. The main distinguishing characters are presented in a species synopsis. Three of the new species are nested in the M. prasina group, and the fourth one (M. taitensis) resolves as a basal taxon to the M. prasina group. The new species inhabit montane cloud forests, which have fragmented dramatically throughout the Eastern Arc Mountains in recent decades.

Keywords

biodiversity hotspotEastern Arc Mountainsendemismlichensmolecular phylogeneticstaxonomy
Type
Standard Papers
Information
The Lichenologist , Volume 53 , Issue 1 , January 2021 , pp. 81 - 94
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the British Lichen Society

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alstrup, V and Aptroot, A (2005) Pyrenocarpous lichens from Tanzania and Kenya. Cryptogamie, Mycologie 26, 265–271.Google Scholar
Alstrup, V and Christensen, SN (2006) New records of lichens with cyanobacteria from Tanzania and Kenya. Cryptogamie, Mycologie 27, 57–68.Google Scholar
Andersen, HL and Ekman, S (2005) Disintegration of the Micareaceae (lichenized Ascomycota): a molecular phylogeny based on mitochondrial rDNA sequences. Mycological Research 109, 21–30.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bjelland, T, Bendiksby, M and Frisch, A (2017) Geographically disjunct phylogenetic lineages in Leptogium hibernicum reveal Leptogium krogiae sp. nov. from East Africa. Lichenologist 49, 239–251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brand, AM, van den Boom, PPG and Sérusiaux, E (2014) Unveiling a surprising diversity in the lichen genus Micarea (Pilocarpaceae) in Réunion (Mascarenes archipelago, Indian Ocean). Lichenologist 46, 413–439.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burgess, ND, Butynski, TM, Cordeiro, NJ, Doggart, NH, Fjeldså, J, Howell, KM, Kilahama, FB, Loader, SP, Lovett, JC and Mbilinyi, B (2006) The biological importance of the Eastern Arc Mountains of Tanzania and Kenya. Biological Conservation 134, 209–231.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cengia, Sambo M (1938) Licheni del Kenia e del Tanganica raccolti dai Rev. Padri della Consolata. Nouvo Giornale Botanico Italiano 45, 364–387.Google Scholar
Coppins, BJ (1983) A taxonomic study of the lichen genus Micarea in Europe. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Botany Series 11, 17–214.Google Scholar
Coppins, BJ (1999) Two new species of Micarea from South Africa. Lichenologist 31, 559–565.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Culberson, CF and Kristinsson, HD (1970) A standardized method for the identification of lichen products. Journal of Chromatography A 46, 85–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Czarnota, P (2007) The lichen genus Micarea (Lecanorales, Ascomycota) in Poland. Polish Botanical Studies 23, 1–190.Google Scholar
Czarnota, P and Guzow-Krzemińska, B (2010) A phylogenetic study of the Micarea prasina group shows that Micarea micrococca includes three distinct lineages. Lichenologist 42, 7–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edgar, RC (2004) MUSCLE: multiple sequence alignment with high accuracy and high throughput. Nucleic Acids Research 32, 1792–1797.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ekman, S (1996) The corticolous and lignicolous species of Bacidia and Bacidina in North America. Opera Botanica 127, 1–148.Google Scholar
Ekman, S and Svensson, M (2014) Brianaria (Psoraceae), a new genus to accommodate the Micarea sylvicola group. Lichenologist 46, 285–294.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ekman, S, Andersen, H and Wedin, M (2008) The limitations of ancestral state reconstruction and the evolution of the ascus in the Lecanorales (lichenized Ascomycota). Systematic Biology 57, 141–156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farkas, E (1987) Foliicolous lichens of the Usambara Mountains, Tanzania I. Lichenologist 19, 43–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farkas, E and Flakus, A (2015) Rare or overlooked? Two species of Lyromma (Lyrommataceae, lichenized Ascomycota) are new for Africa. Herzogia 28, 204–211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farkas, E and Vězda, A (1993) Five new foliicolous lichen species. Folia Geobotanica et Phytotaxonomica 28, 321–330.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Felsenstein, J (1985) Phylogenies and the comparative method. American Naturalist 125, 1–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frisch, A (1999) Afroalpine macrolichens of Mount Kenya (Kenya). Bayreuther Forum Ökologie 64, 65–102.Google Scholar
Frisch, A and Hertel, H (1998) Flora of macrolichens in the alpine and subalpine zones of Mount Kenya (Kenya) [Die Flora der Blatt- und Strauchflechten in der alpinen und subalpinen Stufe des Mount Kenya (Kenia)]. Sauteria 9, 363–370.Google Scholar
Goloboff, P, Farris, J and Nixon, K (2008) TNT, a free program for phylogenetic analysis. Cladistics 24, 774–786.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guzow-Krzemińska, B, Czarnota, P, Łubek, A and Kukwa, M (2016) Micarea soralifera sp. nov., a new sorediate species in the M. prasina group. Lichenologist 48, 161–169.Google Scholar
Guzow-Krzemińska, B, Sérusiaux, E, van den Boom, PPG, Brand, AM, Launis, A, Łubek, A and Kukwa, M (2019) Understanding the evolution of phenotypical characters in the Micarea prasina group (Pilocarpaceae) and descriptions of six new species within the group. MycoKeys 57, 1–30.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hafellner, J (1984) Studien in Richtung einer natürlicheren Gliederung der Sammelfamilien Lecanoraceae und Lecideaceae. Beiheft zur Nova Hedwigia 79, 241–371.Google Scholar
Harris, RC (2009) Four novel lichen taxa in the lichen biota of eastern North America. Opuscula Philolichenum 6, 149–156.Google Scholar
International Mycological Association (2019) MycoBank Database. [WWW resource] URL www.mycobank.org. [Accessed May 2019].Google Scholar
Jarman, SJ and Kantvilas, G (2001 a) Bryophytes and lichens at the Warra LTER Site. I. An inventory of species in Eucalyptus obliqua wet sclerophyll forest. Tasforests 13, 193–216.Google Scholar
Jarman, SJ and Kantvilas, G (2001 b) Bryophytes and lichens at the Warra LTER Site. II. Understorey habitats in Eucalyptus obliqua wet sclerophyll forest. Tasforests 13, 217–243.Google Scholar
Jørgensen, PM (1994) Leptogium palustre, a new lichen from East Africa. Lichenologist 26, 213–215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kalb, K and Vězda, A (1994) Neue Arten der Flechtengattung Gyalideopsis Vězda (Gomphillaceae). Nova Hedwigia 58, 511–528.Google Scholar
Kantvilas, G and Coppins, BJ (2019) Studies on Micarea in Australasia II. A synopsis of the genus in Tasmania, with the description of ten new species. Lichenologist 51, 431–481.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kantvilas, G and Jarman, SJ (2006) Recovery of lichens after logging: preliminary results from Tasmania's wet forests. Lichenologist 38, 383–394.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kantvilas, G, Jarman, SJ and Minchin, PR (2015) Early impacts of disturbance on lichens, mosses and liverworts in Tasmania's wet eucalypt production forests. Australian Forestry 78, 92–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kauff, F and Lutzoni, F (2002) Phylogeny of the Gyalectales and Ostropales (Ascomycota, Fungi): among and within order relationships based on nuclear ribosomal RNA small and large subunits. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 25, 138–156.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kirika, P, Mugambi, G, Lücking, R and Lumbsch, HT (2012) New records of lichen-forming fungi from Kenya. Journal of East African Natural History 101, 73–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klement, O (1962) Zur Flechten-Vegetation von Tanganjika. Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde 85, 1–8.Google Scholar
Konoreva, L, Chesnokov, S, Kuznetsova, E and Stepanchikova, I (2019) Remarkable records of Micarea from the Russian Far East and significant extension of Micarea laeta and M. microareolata range. Botanica 25, 186–201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lange, CD (2006) The endemic land snail Gulella taitensis of the Taita Hills forests, Kenya: on the brink of extinction. Oryx 40, 362–364.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Launis, A and Myllys, L (2019) Micarea fennica, a new lignicolous lichen species from Finland. Phytotaxa 409, 179–188.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Launis, A, Pykälä, J, van den Boom, P, Sérusiaux, E and Myllys, L (2019 a) Four new epiphytic species in the Micarea prasina group from Europe. Lichenologist 51, 7–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Launis, A, Malicek, J, Svensson, M, Tsurykau, A, Sérusiaux, E and Myllys, L (2019 b) Sharpening species boundaries in the Micarea prasina group, with a new circumscription of the type species M. prasina. Mycologia 111, 574–592.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leavitt, SD, Johnson, L, Goward, T and St. Clair, L (2011) Species delimitation in taxonomically difficult lichen-forming fungi: an example from morphologically and chemically diverse Xanthoparmelia (Parmeliaceae) in North America. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 60, 317–332.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lendemer, JC, Harris, RC and Ladd, D (2016) The faces of Bacidia schweinitzii: molecular and morphological data reveal three new species including a widespread sorediate morph. Bryologist 119, 143–171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lücking, R and Kalb, K (2002) New species and further additions to the foliicolous lichen flora of Kenya (East Africa), including the first lichenicolous Aulaxina (Ostropales: Gomphillaceae). Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 139, 171–180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maas Geesteranus, RA (1955) Some lichenological observations in Kenya. Webbia 11, 519–523.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malonza, PK, Lötters, S and Measey, GJ (2010) The montane forest associated amphibian species of the Taita Hills, Kenya. Journal of East African Natural History 99, 47–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marbach, B (2000) Corticole und lignicole Arten der Flechtengattung Buellia sensu lato in den Subtropen und Tropen. Bibliotheca Lichenologica 74, 1–384.Google Scholar
Meyer, B and Printzen, C (2000) Proposal for a standardized nomenclature and characterization of insoluble lichen pigments. Lichenologist 32, 571–583.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Myllys, L, Lohtander, K, Källersjö, M and Tehler, A (1999) Sequence insertion and ITS data provide congruent information in Roccella canariensis and R. tuberculata (Arthoniales, Euascomycetes) phylogeny. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 12, 295–309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Myllys, L, Velmala, S, Holien, H, Halonen, P, Wang, LS and Goward, T (2011) Phylogeny of the genus Bryoria. Lichenologist 43, 617–638.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Orange, A, James, PW and White, FJ (2010) Microchemical Methods for the Identification of Lichens. London: British Lichen Society.Google Scholar
Pellikka, PK, Lotjonen, M, Siljander, M and Lens, L (2009) Airborne remote sensing of spatiotemporal change (1955–2004) in indigenous and exotic forest cover in the Taita Hills, Kenya. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation 11, 221–232.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Purvis, OW and James, PW (1993) Studies on the lichens of the Azores. Part 1: Caldeira Faial. Arquipélago, Life and Marine Sciences 11A, 1–15.Google Scholar
Rikkinen, J (2010) Cyanolichens of the Taita Hills and Mt. Kasigau. In Johansson, T, Pellikka, P and Sorvali, J (eds), Safari Njema – an Interdisciplinary Field Expedition to South-East Kenya. Helsinki: Department of Geography, University of Helsinki, pp. 64–68.Google Scholar
Rodgers, W (1993) The conservation of the forest resources of eastern Africa: past influences, present practices and future needs. In Lovett, J and Wasser, S (eds), Biogeography and Ecology of the Rain Forests of Eastern Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 283–332.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rogers, PC, O'Connell, B, Mwang'ombe, J, Madoffe, S and Hertel, G (2008) Forest health in the Ngangao Forest, Taita Hills, Kenya: a five year assessment of change. Journal of East African Natural History 97, 3–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rogo, L and Oguge, N (2000) The Taita Hills forest remnants: a disappearing world heritage. AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment 29, 522–523.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Santesson, R (1952) Foliicolous lichens I. A revision of the taxonomy of the obligately foliicolous, lichenized fungi. Symbolae Botanicae Upsaliensis 12, 1–590.Google Scholar
Schmitt, I, Crespo, A, Divakar, PK, Fankhauser, JD, Herman-Sackett, E, Kalb, K, Nelsen, MP, Nelson, NA, Rivas-Plata, E and Shimp, AD (2009) New primers for promising single-copy genes in fungal phylogenetics and systematics. Persoonia 23, 35–40.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sérusiaux, E, Brand, AM, Motiejūnaitè, J, Orange, A and Coppins, BJ (2010) Lecidea doliiformis belongs to Micarea, Catillaria alba to Biatora and Biatora lignimollis occurs in Western Europe. Bryologist 113, 333–344.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spribille, T, Thor, G, Bunnell, FL, Goward, T and Björk, CR (2008) Lichens on dead wood: species-substrate relationships in the epiphytic lichen floras of the Pacific Northwest and Fennoscandia. Ecography 31, 741–750.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stamatakis, A (2014) RAxML version 8: a tool for phylogenetic analysis and post-analysis of large phylogenies. Bioinformatics 30, 1312–1313.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Suija, A, Kaasalainen, U, Kirika, P and Rikkinen, J (2018) Taitaia, a novel lichenicolous fungus in tropical montane forests in Kenya (East Africa). Lichenologist 50, 173–184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swinscow, TDV and Krog, H (1988) Macrolichens of East Africa. London: British Museum (Natural History).Google Scholar
van den Boom, PPG, Brand, AM, Coppins, BJ and Sérusiaux, E (2017) Two new species in the Micarea prasina group from Western Europe. Lichenologist 49, 13–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, TJ, Bruns, T, Lee, S and Taylor, JW (1990) Amplification and direct sequencing of fungal ribosomal RNA genes for phylogenetics. In Innis, MA, Gelfand, DH, Sninsky, JJ and White, TJ (eds), PCR Protocols: A Guide to Methods and Applications. New York: Academic Press, pp. 315–322.Google Scholar
Wilder, C, Brooks, T and Lens, L (1998) Vegetation structure and composition of the Taita Hills forests. Journal of East African Natural History 87, 181–187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yeshitela, K (2008) Effects of anthropogenic disturbance on the diversity of foliicolous lichens of East Africa: Goder (Ethiopia), Budongo (Uganda) and Kakamega (Kenya). Ph.D. thesis, University of Koblenz-Landau.Google Scholar
Yeshitela, K, Fischer, E, Killmann, D and Sérusiaux, E (2009) Two new foliicolous species of Enterographa (Roccellaceae) from Kenya. Lichenologist 41, 17–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zahlbruckner, A (1926) Afrikanische Flechten (Lichenes). Engler's Botanische Jahrbücher 60, 468–552.Google Scholar
Zoller, S, Scheidegger, C and Sperisen, C (1999) PCR primers for the amplification of mitochondrial small subunit ribosomal DNA of lichen-forming ascomycetes. Lichenologist 31, 511–516.CrossRefGoogle Scholar