Parmotrema and allied lichen genera in Papua New Guinea
1999. 1. edition, 152 pages, 83 figures, 14x22cm, 320 g
Language: English
(Bibliotheca Lichenologica, Band 73)
ISBN 978-3-443-58052-0, paperback, price: 46.00 €
in stock and ready to ship
Keywords
lichen • Parmotrema • Ascomycotina • Parmeliaceae • Papua New Guinea
Contents
Rev.: Bibliography of Systematic Mycology and Index of Fungi top ↑
It is a pity that material from the Indonesian province of Irian Jaya, the west of the island of New Guinea, was not included in this study, since there is previous bibliographic information and a checklist for the whole of the island (see STREIMANN, 1986) and surely many of the species are to be found both sides of the political boundary. Yet the authors describe here no less than 50 species of Parmotrema, including six new to science and one new combination, three species of Rinzelia and one of Canomaculina.
It is perceived by colleagues abroad that in Britain we do not like to split Parmr.elia s. tat. into its many generic segregates; yet this might be so only for practical reasons, as most genera are now well- established. I was glad to see a section (Intergeneric Comparisons, pp. 12-14) on the differences and affinities, morphological as well as chemical, between Parmotrema and related genera, which was also complemented by a comparative table (Table 1, p. 13). From my own field work in SE Asia, although I found that I could distinguish the species of Parmotrema from other closely related genera such as Cetrelia and Canoparmelia without sophisticated chemical tests, my experience with the genera Rimelia and Rimeliella (now Canomaculina) was rather more problematic; the latter taxa all looked like Parmotrema to me. Now I know that we could have separated them from Parmotrema by the maculate, cracked upper cortex and also by the presence of rhizines near the edge of the lower surface of the thallus. This latter character should have been included in the table and within the dissertation on intergeneric comparisons, but was only mentioned in the keys to taxa. However, I still need further guidance on how to separate Rimelia from Canomaculina, and at present I remain unconvinced that they are different.
There is a good review of the value of morphological characters at species level. The authors conclude that, of these, the presence of vegetative propagules and ascospore and conidial variation, are the best to distinguish the taxa, in conjunction with medullary chemistry, whereas some thalline characters previously thought to be useful, such as colour of medulla, lower surface texture of thallus, presence of cilia and maculae, are really environmentally driven. There is also an interesting species pairs table (p. 18) and a worthwhile five-page account of chemical interspecific variation. Although I have not tested the key with individual specimens, it seems to work well (except for ascospore size discrepancies in couplets 7 and 8) and there has been, in general, a good attempt to correlate chemical differences with morphological features. I was also grateful for the inclusion of pictures of representative specimens, since from the descriptions of the taxa many seem to share multiple characters and it would appear that there is a great overlap between species. Thus, going back to the discrepancies in couplets 7 and 8 of the key, P. elacinulatum and P. pigmentosum could have been separated more easily by the presence of ciliate apothecia - at least as observed in the plates (figs 17 and 53). With regard to representativeness, I was a little surprised that very few types were seen for this study, so the users of the monograph will need to trust the second author's wider experience on these taxa.
In any case, I am sure that this work will be a 'must' for those studying parmotremas in SE Asia and the Indian subcontinent; it is certainly a much-needed monograph for this area.
B. Aguirre-Hudson
Bibliography of Systematic Mycology (BSM) and Index of Fungi (IF)
Contents top ↑
Summary 7
Introduction 8
Lichenological Exploration of Papua New Guinea 8
The Family Parmeliaceae and History of the Genus Parmotrema 10
Intergeneric Comparisons 12
Species Characters - Morphology and Anatomy 14
Interspecific Variation - Chemistry 20
Geographic Affinities 24
Materials and Methods 25
Key to the Species of Canomaculina, Parmotrema and Rimelia in
Papua New Guinea 26
Parmotrema - the Genus 31
The Species
1. P. acrotrychum 31
2. P. chinense 32
3. P. cooperi 35
4. P. corniculans 38
5. P. crinitum 40
6. P. cristiferum 42
7. P. deflectens 46
8. P. dilatatum 48
9. P. durumae 50
10. P. elacinulatum 52
11. P. fasciculatum 54
12. P. flaccidifolium 56
13. P. gardneri 57
14. P. gloriosum 60
15. P. hypomiltoides 62
16. P. insuetum 65
17. P. isidioinsuetum 66
18. P. kainantum 68
19. P. kaisenikianum 69
20. P. kurokawianum 70
21. P. lambleyi 73
22. P. maclayanum 77
23. P. madilynae 78
24. P. malonprotocetraricum 79
25. P. mellissii 81
26. P. menyamyuaense 84
27. P. merrillii 85
28. P. nanfongense 86
29. P. naonii 89
30. P. nilgherrense 91
31. P. overeemii 92
32. P. pacificum 93
33. P. permutatum 96
34. P. pigmentosum 98
35. P. poolii 100
36. P. praeinsuetum 103
37. P. praesorediosum 103
38. P. rampoddense 104
39. P. robustum 107
40. P. saccatilobum 111
41. P. sancti-angelii 112
42. P. sipmanii 115
43. P. subarnoldii 116
44. P. subcorallinum 118
45. P. subrugatum 120
46. P. sulphuratum 123
47. P. tinctorum 124
48. P. ultralucens 128
49. P. verrucatum 129
50. P. watutense l30
Canomaculina - the Genus 133
1. C. subsumpta 133
Rimelia - the Genus 136
1. R. austrocetrata 136
2. R. cetrata l38
3. R. reticulata 140
References 143
Acknowledgements 148
Taxonomic Index 149