Psoroma urupukapukianum sp. nov. and squamulose Pannaria lichen species in Aotearoa / New Zealand

Arve Elvebakk^{1, *}, Allison Knight² and Marley Ford³

1 UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Arctic University Museum of Norway, PO Box 6050, Langnes, N-9037 Tromsø, Norway.
2 Department of Botany, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand.
3 School of Environment, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
* arve.elvebakk@uit.no

Received: 23 December 2024 | Accepted: 15 May 2025 | Published: 03 Oct 2025
Senior Editor: Peter de Lange
https://doi.org/10.34074/pibdiv.003105

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Abstract
Psoroma urupukapukianum is described from Urupukapuka Island in the Bay of Islands, Te Tai Tokerau / Northland, Aotearoa / New Zealand based on two herbarium collections made in 1980. It has recently been sought at its type locality without success. The species is corticolous and squamulose, developing into a crust of gymnidia, where c. 3/4 represent the chloromorph and the remaining parts are conspicuous cephalodia with the same external morphology as the chloromorph. The species lacks lichen substances by thin layer chromatography (TLC) and the asci have apical IKI+ structures like other Psoroma species, but the ascospores differ in having long-apiculate perispores. The new species is hypothesised to represent a separate lineage in Pannariaceae, but fresh material for molecular phylogenetic analysis is needed. Psoroma caliginosum and P. melanizum are both newly treated here as synonyms of Pannaria pholidotoides described from the Otago / Ōtakou area. There is also still another unnamed species and an unresolved name from this area. The ascospores of Pannaria pholidotoides have a gibbose perispore, contrasting the long-apiculate perispores of the related species P. implexa. Knowledge of perispore morphology is decisive for identifying squamulose Pannaria species.

Cite as
Elvebakk, A., Knight A., Ford M. (2025). Psoroma urupukapukianum sp. nov. and squamulose Pannaria lichen species in Aotearoa / New Zealand. Perspectives in Biodiversity, 3(1): 44–58. https://doi.org/10.34074/pibdiv.003105