Japewiella jingningensis Y.T. Cai & Lu L. Zhang, 2025

Cai, Yu-Tong, Xu, Yuan-Ke, Li, Ruo-Tong & Zhang, Lu-Lu, 2025, Japewiella jingningensis (Lecanoraceae), a new species from China, Phytotaxa 702 (1), pp. 109-115 : 112

Japewiella jingningensis Y.T. Cai & Lu L. Zhang , sp. nov. Mycobank number: 854993 ( Fig. 2 )

Type:— CHINA. Zhejiang Province: Lishui City, Jingning County, Dayang Lake Nature Reserve, Dayang Lake Protection Station, beside the highway. 849 m elev., 27°51′16.74″ N, 119°45′23.71″ E, on bark of Osmanthus fragrans Lour. , 26 December 2023, Lu L. Zhang, L.Wang & Y. T. Cai 20234753 (Holotype in SDNU)

Diagnosis:—This species has a thin, smooth thallus, an epihymenium ranging from red-brown to olive-brown, small ascospores 12–13.5 × 5.5–7 μm, and contains an unknown chemical substance.

Description: — Thallus crustose, 80 μm thick, more or less continuous, smooth, slightly rimose, grey-white, pale greyish green to pale green; medulla white; soredia and isidia absent; prothallus absent. Photobiont a unicellular green alga with ± globose cells, 5.5–12 µm.

Apothecia lecideine, adnate, mostly scattered, rounded or slightly lobed with age, 0.18–0.55 mm diam.; disc flat or slightly convex, orange-brown to black, epruinose, margin well developed, persistent, concolorous with the disc or pale brown to black, slightly raised or level with the disc, rarely strongly raised, in section 30–67.5 μm thick laterally, composed of radiating, branched and anastomosed hyphae with thick gelatinous walls, red-brown to olive-brown in the outer part, hyaline within, not inspersed with crystals. Epihymenium 5–15 μm high, red-brown to olive-brown, K–, N+ orange-red, Pd–. Hymenium 30–52.5 μm high, hyaline, I+ blue. Subhymenium 10–25 μm high, hyaline. Paraphyses 0.7–1.2 μm wide, septate, anastomosed and branched, with a brown apical cap. Hypothecium 17.5–30 μm high, hyaline, not inspersed with granules or oil globules. Asci clavate, 8-spored, approximating the Lecidella - type. Ascospores simple, hyaline, ellipsoid to ovoid, 12–13.5 × 5.5–7 μm; wall single-layered, 0.5–0.8 μm thick. Pycnidia not seen.

Chemistry: —Thallus K–, C–, KC–, Pd–, UV–; TLC: an unknown substance (minor) exhibits bluish fluorescence in UV after acid and heat treatment, and the Rf value of the spot belongs to section 6.

Etymology: —The specific epithet refers to its place of discovery, Jingning County.

Ecology and distribution: —Growing on the bark of trees, for example, Ligustrum lucidum Ait. , Morella rubra Lour. , Osmanthus fragrans Lour. , Rhus chinensis Mill. , Salix mesnyi Hance. , and Schima superba Gardn. et Champ. , between elevations of 849 to 1165 meters in the Dayang Lake and Wangdongyang Nature Reserve, Jingning County, Lishui City, Zhejiang Province, China.

Notes: —The new species is characterized by the thin, smooth, grey-white to pale green thallus, orange-brown to black apothecia, red-brown to olive-brown epihymenium, small ascospores, 12–13.5 × 5.5–7 μm, and by the presence of an unknown chemical metabolite. It is morphologically similar to J. tavaresiana (H. Magn.) Printzen (2000: 4) in having a thin, smooth thallus and red-brown epihymenium. However, the thallus of J. tavaresiana lacks a welldefined cortex or medulla and the ascospores is larger (13–18(–22) × 7–11 μm), with thicker walls (0.7–1.5 μm thick) ( Coppins & James 1979, Cannon et al. 2022). J. pruinosula (Müll. Arg.) Kantvilas (2011: 101) also has a red-brown epihymenium, but its discs are often whitish grey pruinose, and the margin contains numerous crystals that do not dissolve in K ( Kantvilas 2011). J. variabilis Elix & P.M. McCarthy (2018: 27) is similar to J. jingningensis due to its medium brown to black apothecia, but the former often has pycnidia, deep blue-green epihymenium, and contains atranorin, chloroatranorin, perlatolic acid, stenosporic acid as its major chemical metabolites ( Elix & McCarthy 2018).

Additional specimens examined: — CHINA. Zhejiang Province: Lishui City, Jingning County, Wangdongyang Nature Reserve , Fengshuiyang Protection Station , beside the highway. 1119 m elev., 27°69′29.89″ N, 119°62′89.40″ E, on bark of Ligustrum lucidum Ait. , 4 June 2023, L. L. Liu, Y. T. Cai, R. T. Li & Z. H. Yang 20233246 ( SDNU) ; Baiyun Protection Station , beside the highway, at the foot of the mountain. 1104 m elev., 27°72′60.50″ N, 119°64′18.26″ E, on bark of Ligustrum lucidum Ait. , 6 June 2023, L. L. Liu, Y. T. Cai, R. T. Li & Z. H. Yang 20233731 ( SDNU) ; Dayang Lake Nature Reserve, Dayang Lake Protection Station , beside the highway. 849 m elev., 27°51′16.74″ N, 119°45′23.71″ E, on bark of Morella rubra Lour. , 26 December 2023, Lu L. Zhang, L. Wang & Y. T. Cai 20234736 ( SDNU) ; on bark of Schima superba Gardn. et Champ. , 26 December 2023, Lu L. Zhang, L. Wang & Y. T. Cai 20234740 ( SDNU) ; Caoyutang Protection Station , beside the mountain road. 1158 m elev., 27°54′1.33″ N, 119°40′16.35″ E, on bark of Rhus chinensis Mill. , 27 December 2023, Lu L. Zhang, L. Wang & Y. T. Cai 20234805 ( SDNU) ; Caoyutang Protection Station , beside the pond in front of the office area. 1165 m elev., 27°54′8.61″ N, 119°39′50.83″ E, on bark of Salix mesnyi Hance. , 27 December 2023, Lu L. Zhang, L. Wang & Y. T. Cai 20235013, 20235014 ( SDNU) ; Dayang Lake Protection Station , beside the highway. 849 m elev., 27°51′16.74″ N, 119°45′23.71″ E, on bark of Osmanthus fragrans Lour. , 26 December 2023, Lu L. Zhang, L. Wang & Y. T. Cai 20235062 ( SDNU) .

Figures

FIGURE 2. A–J. Japewiella jingningensis (holotype, SDNU 20234753). A. Thallus. Scale = 500 μm. B. Apothecia. Scale = 200 µm. C. Apothecium section. Scale = 20 µm. D. Apothecium section (showing epihymenium and margin N+ reaction). Scale = 20 µm. E. Ascus. Scale = 10 µm. F. Amyloid reaction of ascus. Scale = 10 µm. G. Ascospores. Scale = 10 µm. H. Paraphyses. Scale = 10 µm. I. Paraphyses in K. Scale = 10 µm. J. TLC of J. jingningensis in C system, presented in the order of 254 nm UV light (before acid), visible light and 365 nm UV light (after acid and heating). (A: atranorin; N: norstictic acid; U: the unknown substance).