A revision of the genus Aciculopsora (Ramalinaceae), with the description of one new species and one new combination

Abstract

The tropical lichen genus Aciculopsora is still very poorly collected. Only eleven collections are known worldwide. We present a molecular phylogenetic tree based on mtSSU and nrITS sequence data from six Aciculopsora specimens. Our results corroborate the monophyly of the genus. We conclude that Aciculopsora consists of three species: A. cinerea, A. longispora comb. nov. (≡ Phyllopsora longispora, = A. salmonea syn. nov.) and A. srilankensis sp. nov. Aciculopsora cinerea occurs in Brazil, A. longispora in Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Kenya, and A. srilankensis in Sri Lanka. As such, the genus is new for the Paleotropics, Argentina and Ecuador.