Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 January 2021 | 13(1): 17607–17610

 

 

ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) 

https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.6885.13.1.17607-17610

#6885 | Received 12 November 2020 | Finally accepted 25 December 2020

 

 

A new record of pyrenocarpous lichen to the Indian biota

 

N. Rajaprabu 1 , P. Ponmurugan 2  & Gaurav K. Mishra 3

 

1,2 Biomedical Research Laboratory, Department of Botany, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu 641046, India.

3 Lichenology Laboratory, CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh 226001, India.

1 lichenraja2017@gmail.com (corresponding author), 2 drponmurugan@gmail.com, 3 gmishrak@gmail.com

 

 

Editor: Anonymity requested.   Date of publication: 26 January 2021 (online & print)

 

Citation: Rajaprabu, N., P. Ponmurugan & G.K. Mishra (2021). A new record of pyrenocarpous lichen to the Indian biota.  Journal of Threatened Taxa 13(1): 17607–17610. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.6885.13.1.17607-17610

 

Copyright: © Rajaprabu et al. 2021. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.  JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and distribution of this article in any medium by providing adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publication.

 

Funding: Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), New Delhi, India (58/18/2015-TFV/BMS/ dated 23-02-2018); Department of Science &
Technology, New Delhi, India (PDF/2017/000356).

 

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

 

Acknowledgements: The authors would like to acknowledge: the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), New Delhi, India for financial support to carry out the research work; director, CSIR-NBRI for providing the library and Laboratory facilities; and Drs. D.K. Upreti & S. Nayaka, Lichenology Laboratory, CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI), Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India for identification of lichen specimen.  GKM would like to thank the Department of Science & Technology, New Delhi for award of N-PDF (PDF/2017/000356).

 

 

India has a rich diversity of lichens, including the pyrenocarpous lichens, which is a group of lichens that have flask-shaped ascocarps (fruiting bodies) called perithecia.  Pyrenocarpous taxa commonly grow on the bark of a number of trees or sometimes on rocks, soil, or leaves in moist tropical and temperate regions of the world.  The Western Ghats and eastern Himalayan regions hold the highest number of cryptogams together with lichens (Sinha et al. 2018).  Both regions are rich in biodiversity so far and lichenologically were investigated by various workers for doing revisionary and floristic studies of the states.  Aptroot (2012) revised the genus Anthracothecium and Pyrenula and listed 155 species of Anthracothecium and 745 species of Pyrenula from different parts of the world including India.  India is represented by the occurrence of the 350 species of 44 genera and 11 families of pyrenocarpous lichens (Singh & Sinha 2010).

Upreti (1990) described 10 species of Pyrenula, exhibiting Pyrenula subducta (Nyl.) Müll. Arg., spore type of which seven species were new records to the Indian lichen biota.  Awasthi (1991) consolidated the information of different lichen genera in a key to the microlichens India, Nepal & Sri Lanka and enumerated 229 species of pyrenocarpous lichens.  Upreti (1991a,b, 1992, 1993a,b) studied the Pyrenula genus of pyrenocarpous lichens from India and reported several new records for Indian lichen biota.  Jagadeesh et al. (2005) revised the genus Pyrenula and reported Pyrenula subcylindrica Jagadeesh & Upreti new to science from India.  Recently, Ingle et al. (2018) listed Pyrenula taxa from India and reported 77 species including 10 new records from the country.  Based on a revisionary study of Pyrenula, the aim of the present study is to provide a new record for lichen biota.

 

Materials and Methods

The present study is based on freshly collected specimens from Iravangallaru located at Megamalai Wildlife Sanctuary, Tamil Nadu (Figure 1) and previously collected sample from Arunchal Pradesh’s specimens deposited in the herbarium CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow (LWG).  Morphological and anatomical characters were examined using stereo zoom Leica S8APO and light DM2500 microscopes attached with camera.  Thin sections of perithecia were cut using a razor blade under the stereoscope zoom microscope.  All anatomical measurements were recorded in plain water, while 10% KOH was used for detailed study of asci and ascospores.  For spot tests the usual reagents of K, C, and P were used and for identification of lichens substance by thin layer chromatography (TLC) was performed in solvent system C following Orange et al. (2001).  The specimens were identified up to species level with the help of keys of Awasthi (1991), and Aptroot (2006, 2012).  The identified specimens were deposited in the herbarium of CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow.

 

Pyrenula subglabrata (Nyl.) Müll. Arg.

Bot. Jb. 6: 410 (1885).

= Verrucaria subglabrata Nyl., in Nylander & Crombie 1883.

Thallus corticolous, corticate, smooth, continuous, thin, up to 10cm across, pale yellow to yellowish-brown, without pseudocyphellae; prothallus indistinct; photobiont trentepohlia. Ascomata perithecioid, simple, dispersed, conical, emergent, 0.3–0.5 mm diam., black, edges without thallus covering; ostioles eccentric to lateral, red-brown, pointing in various directions; hamathecium hyaline, densely inspersed with oil droplets; asci cylindrical to clavate, 4–8 spored, 40–48 × 10–12.5 μm; ascospores brown, 3–septate, 16–22 × 8–11 μm, central lumina not strongly elongated, terminal lumina mostly separated from the exposere wall by endospore layer.  Pycnidia not seen (Image 2).

Chemistry: Thallus K–, C–, KC–, PD–, UV–; no lichen substance present in TLC. 

Discussion: Pyrenula subglabrata closely resembles Pyrenula oculata A. Singh & Upreti in that they have similar ascomata and not constricted ascospores but the P. subglabrata differs in smaller ascospores 18–20 × 5–10 μm.  Pyrenula minarum Vain is another species similar to P. subglabrata in having similar morphology and ascomata except the size and shape of ascospores of P. subglabrata.  Pyrenula occidentalis (R.C. Harris) R.C. Harris also closely resembles P. subglabrata in having similar morphology and inspersed hemithecium but P. subglabrata lacking anthraquinone neither thallus nor ascomata (Aptroot 2012; Cáceres et al. 2013).

Ecology and distribution: The species is found growing on smooth bark of trees at altitudes of between 1,747–2,575 m in the Arunachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu states of India.  Previously, this species is known only from Singapore (Aptroot et al. 2012).  This species is a new record for India.

Specimens examined: 08-009440/A (LWG), 12.xi.2008, India, Arunachal Pradesh, West Kameng District, Sela Pass, 27.503’N, 92.104’E, 2,575m, on bark, coll. D.K. Upreti, U. Dubey, R. Khare & G.K. Mishra.  19-36053 (LWG), 02.ix.2019, Tamil Nadu, Megamalai Wildlife Sanctuary, Iravangallaaru, Behind Vinayakar Temple, 9.723’N, 77.456’E, 1,747m, coll. Rajaprabu, N. & G.K. Mishra.

 

Results and Discussion

The pyrenocarpous lichens communities are a good indicator of young and regenerated forest type.  The rich diversity of lichens clearly indicates that most of the forest within the eastern Himalayan region has good health of forest (Singh 1999; Rout et al. 2010).  India is represented by the occurrence of 82 species of Pyrenula and maximum diversity was reported from the Western Ghats and the eastern Himalayan region (Mishra et al. 2020).  While Tamil Nadu has semi-evergreen forests and smooth bark trees, so far 22 species of Pyrenula have been reported, while Arunachal Pradesh with evergreen dense moist forests have a maximum diversity of Pyrenula with 40 species reported (Awasthi 1991; Nayaka et al. 2001; Hariharan & Balaji 2007; Singh & Sinha 2010).  In the present study Pyrenula subglabrata (Nyl.) Müll. Arg. is provided as a new record for Indian lichen biota.

 

Conclusion

The evergreen forest in both the regions exhibit the maximum diversity of Pyrenula species.  The smooth bark trees along the streams in moist shady habitat bear pyrenolichens mostly the species Pyrenula on bark, leaves and rocks.  Due to dense virgin forests that cover tracts of land in moist regions of the states are suitable for growth of Pyrenula lichens.  Therefore, occurrence of Pyrenula species indicates an evergreen forest with abundance of smooth barked trees.  The present investigation is of a preliminary nature, a more intensive and extensive survey will definitely add additional Pyrenula taxa to the country.

 

Key to the Taxa

1a                                                              Spores oval …………………………………….……………….......… 2

b     Spores ellipsoidal ……………………………………………….…… 3

2a                                                              Centrum I+ ……………………………….………………………..…… 4

b     Centrum I- ………………………………..…………………………… 5

3a                                                              Perithecia < 1.0mm diam ………….…………………………… 6

b     Perithecia >1.0mm diam ………………… P. minarum Vain

4a                                                              Centrum I+ blue, with oil globules  … P. cayennensis Müll. Arg.

b     Centrum I+ wine red, without oil globules  … P. mastophora (Nyl.) Müll. Arg.

5a                                                              Centrum I-, with oil globules…...P. kurzii A.Singh & Upreti.

b     Centrum I- without oil globules  ....… P. introducta (Stirton) Zahlbr.

6a                                                              Ascospores < 21μm long ………………………………………… 7

b     Ascospores >21μm long ....... P. oculata A.Singh & Upreti

7a                                                              Ascomata with anthraquinone  ...… P. occidentalis (R.C.Harris) R.C.Harris

b     Ascomata without anthraquinone  ....... P. subglabrata (Nyl.) Müll. Arg.

 

 

For figure & image - - click here

 

 

References

 

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