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A–B, Porina microtriseptata, A, habitus, B, ascospores; C–D, Porina monilisidiata, C, habitus, D, ascospores; E–G, Psoroglaena spinosa, E, habitus, F–G, detail; H–J, Pyrenula multicolorata, H, habitus with sectioned ascoma, I, hamathecium, J, ascospores; K–N, Schistophoron muriforme, K, habitus, L, section through ascoma showing mazaedium, M–N, ascospores. Scale: A, D, H = 0.5 mm, B, M, N = 20 μm, E, K, L = 0.25 mm, F–G = 50 μm, I–J = 25 μm. Thallus corticate, smooth, shiny, continuous, covering areas of up to 2 cm diam., thin, olive green, surrounded and partly dissected by a thin black prothallus. Isidia absent. Algae trentepohlioid. Ascomata hemispherical, c. 0.2 mm diam., fully covered by thallus except for a brown c. 0.1 mm wide ostiole. Ascospores consistently 3-septate, hyaline, fusiform, pointed, 25–27.5 × 2.5–3.5 μm, in two bundles in the ascus, surrounded by a c. 1.5 μm wide gelatinous sheath. Pycnidia not observed. Chemistry. Thallus UV–, C–, K–, KC–, Pd–. TLC: No substances detected.
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The lichen diversity of ten forest sites representing different geographical regions in Sri Lanka was investigated. In total, c. 1500 specimens of c. 400 species were recorded of the evaluated groups (all except the Graphidaceae and a few foliose groups). The following new species are described: Astrothelium conjugatum, Heterodermia fragmentata, Le...
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... is closest to the neotropical M. flavovulcanus (Komposch) Aptroot in Aptroot et al. (2008: 69), which has a similar colour of the pycnidium ostiole, but the pycnidia are conical rather than cylindrical. Weerakoon & Aptroot, sp. nov. (Fig. 2A-B Thallus corticate, smooth, shiny, continuous, covering areas of up to 2 cm diam., thin, olive green, surrounded and partly dissected by a thin black prothallus. Isidia absent. Algae trentepohlioid. Ascomata hemispherical, c. 0.2 mm diam., fully covered by thallus except for a brown c. 0.1 mm wide ostiole. Ascospores consistently ...
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... monilisidiata Weerakoon & Aptroot, sp. nov. (Fig. 2C-D Thallus corticate, smooth or slightly rugulose, covering araes up to 10 cm diam., shiny, continuous, thin, olive green, surrounded by a thin black prothallus. Isidia numerous, corticate, concolorous with thallus, mostly simple, but some branched, wavy to a bit moniliform, cylindrical, c. 0.05 mm diam. and c. 0.3-0.8 mm high. Algae ...
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... & Aptroot, sp. nov. (Fig. 2E-G Psoroglaena with microfruticose thallus, corticate, smooth, dull, rather bright green, covering areas of up to 1 mm only, consisting of tiny squamules that are dissected into branched, somewhat moniliform threads that are almost equally wide along their whole length, without prothallus; threads c. 20-25 μm wide, for the major part in ...
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... longest cortical papillae of any Psoroglaena. It is close to the foliicolous neotropical P. ornata Herrera-Campos & Lücking in Herrera-Campos et al. (2004: 179;Lücking 2008) in general aspect, but differs by the longer papillae, the absence of a prothallus and the unordered algal cells that are also more numerous. Weerakoon & Aptroot, sp. nov. (Fig. ...
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Citations
... Lichens are the example of the symbiotic association between one fungus (ascomycetes or basidiomycetes) and one alga or cyanobacterium leading to the formation of self-sustaining life forms. The fungal hyphae absorb the required nutrients from the substratum while the algal cells synthesize food through photosynthesis (Weerakoon & Aptroot, 2016). The world lichen biota is represented by more than 20,000 species (Galloway, 2008) out of which 2714 species are reported from India (Sinha et al., 2018). ...
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... Sri Lanka harbors a diverse flora and fauna including many endemic plant species and this is also true with regard to the lichens. It is reported that nearly 1200 lichen species are known from Sri Lanka [28]. The literature survey revealed that only a very few studies on isolation, identification and bioprospecting properties of endolichenic fungi had been reported. ...
Endolichenic fungi (ELF) are unexplored group of organisms as a source for the production of bioactive secondary metabolites with radical scavenging activity, antilipase and amylase inhibitory activities. Endolichenic fungi in lichens collected from mangrove or mangrove associated plants are least known for their fungal diversity and potential to produce bioactive compounds. A total of 171 ELF strains were isolated from the lichens collected from mangrove and mangrove associated plants in Puttalam lagoon. Out of this collection, 70 isolates were identified using rDNA-ITS region sequence homology to the GenBank accessions and a phylogenetic analysis was performed. Commonly isolated genera of ELF from lichens were Aspergillus, Byssochlamys, Talaromyces, Diaporthe, Phomopsis, Endomelanconiopsis, Schizophyllum, Cerrena, Trichoderma, Xylaria, Hypoxylon, Daldinia, Preussia, Sordaria, Neurospora, and Lasiodiplodia. In the present study, the effectiveness of ethyl acetate extracts of the ELF isolates were investigated against antioxidant activity, antilipase activity and α-amylase inhibition activity in in-vitro conditions. The results revealed that the extracts of Daldinia eschscholtzii, Diaporthe musigena and Sordaria sp. had the highest radical scavenging activity with smaller IC50 values (25 μg/mL to 31 μg/mL) compared to the IC50 values of BHT (76.50±1.47 μg/mL). Antilipase assay revealed that 13 extracts from ELF showed promising antiobesity activity ranged between 25% to 40%. Amylase inhibitory assay indicated that the test extracts do not contain antidiabetic secondary metabolites.
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Despite being a biodiversity-rich country, Sri Lanka’s fungal diversity remains largely unexplored. In the 19th century, British mycologists conducted extensive research, leading to the identification of more than 1,800 fungal taxa, including ascomycetous and basidiomycetous species. However, the majority of these taxa have not been revisited since their initial description, and molecular evidence is lacking. Moreover, a significant number of fungal taxa have been deemed invalid or illegitimate, indicating the need for a nomenclatural revision. To address this knowledge gap, this review provides a comprehensive list of ascomycetous taxa (including both lichen-forming and non-lichenized) that were originally described in Sri Lanka. Names are listed according to the original names which were included in the protologue. In the cases where species have been transferred to other genera, the current names and new classifications are provided. The typification details, nomenclature status, and classification are also presented. This checklist will serve as a valuable resource for the future epitypification of old taxa, as much of the existing information is poorly documented and scattered.
In this study we present an analysis of the Pyrenula ochraceoflava group (Pyrenulaceae), focusing on the Neotropics and based on morphological, chemical, and molecular data of the mtSSU, nuLSU and ITS markers. We described three new species from tropical dry forests of Mexico, confirm the monophyly of the P. ochraceoflava group and provide evidence for the inclusion of species currently placed in the genus Mazaediothecium within Pyrenula. Pyrenula aurantiacoretis sp. nov. is characterized by an orange pigment covering the thallus in net-like fashion, muriform ascospores with 4 rows of 1–4 cells each, 12–15.5 x 8–10.5 µm, and 7-chloroemodin and emodin as major compounds. Pyrenula connexa sp. nov. is closely related to Mazaediothecium album, being characterized by mazaedioid pyrenocarps, basal and lateral excipular carbonization, highly variable mature ascospores, 1-septate to submuriform, thallus with abundant white verrucae, and lichexanthone as major compound. Pyrenula moldenkeorum sp. nov. is characterized by an orange thallus, submuriform ascospores that frequently show pigmented septa forming a cross septation pattern, 7.5–11 x 5.5–8.5 µm in size, and 7-chloroemodin and emodin as major compounds. The taxonomy of the most common and widespread species of the group, P. ochraceoflava and P. ochraceoflavens, is briefly discussed, presenting evidence to support the consideration of P. ochraceoflava as a species complex. The two species Mazaedothecium album and M. mohamedii are transferred to Pyrenula as P. aptrootiana nom. nov. [non Pyrenula alba (Schrad.) A.Massal.] and P. mohamedii comb. nov.
Sri Lanka’s location, historic and geologic isolation from the continental landmass, topography and climate act to shape its biogeography and biodiversity, including conferring a remarkably high level of endemism, given its close proximity to the mainland.
The island hosts several ‘point endemic1 species and even monotypic endemic genera. However this irreplaceable biodiversity is now under severe threat because of extensive anthropogenic landuse changes that began over two centuries ago, under colonial rule, and continues to this present date. Due to high levels of endemism, extensive loss
and degradation of natural ecosystem, Sri Lanka has been identified as one of the 36 global biodiversity hotspots.
