Lendemeriella S. Y. Kondr., gen. nov.

MycoBank number: MB 834211; Index Fungorum number: IF 834211; Facesoffungi number: FoF 11742

Similar to Olegblumia, but differs in having crustose or subsquamulose to mostly indistinct (not lobate) thallus, in having different chemosyndrome type, as well as in having different ecology and distribution.

Type species: Lendemeriella reptans (Lendemer et B. P. Hodk.) S. Y. Kondr.

Thallus crustose, thin and areolate or subsquamulose (in C. dakotensis), whitish to dark grey near apothecia, often with bluish tinge, or grey-brown, to mostly indistinct. Vegetative diaspore rarely present (only in L. sorocarpa and L. reptans). Soralia if present discrete, laminal becoming excavate as evacuated by soredia. Hypothallus dark, rarely present.

Apothecia biatorine with egg-yellow, yellow-orange, yellow-olive, red- dish yellow to reddish brown, rusty red or blackish brown, grey-olive disc and own margin concolorous or somewhat lighter of disc, often with brown- ish, greyish brown or blackish brown outermost portion, or lecanorine, with thalline margin concolorous with thallus. Epihymenium dark, brown, olive green to reddish brown. Paraphyses simple to sparingly branched at the top, with one or two capitate uppermost cells. Asci clavate, Teloschistes type, with eight spores. Ascospores polardiblastic, ellipsoid, sometimes very long. As- cospore septum sometimes only initial or rather thin. Conidiomata recorded only for a few species. Conidia bacilliform.

Chemistry: Thallus K–, N– or N+ violet; disc of apothecia K+ red, C+ red- dish brown. Anthraquinones are absent in thallus; apothecia (disc or both disc and margin) contain parietin (major), emodin (minor) and traces of emodinal, emodic acid, parietinic acid and fallacinal, rarely 7-chloroemodin, while some species are characterised by presence of large amount of sedifolia grey in all parts of the thallus and in apothecial margin. It should be mentioned that L. exsecuta is characterised by presence of Lecidea green pigment in the cortex of thallus and exciple similarly to species of the genus Erichansenia (see above). Ecology: Growing on twigs of shrubs, wood and bryophytes and on sili- ceous rock in subalpine belt, on bark of deciduous trees and Abies sibirica; on base rich siliceous or calcareous rocks (limestone, schist, gneiss), usually on xerothermic outcrops in forest-steppe zone or in Mediterranean region of the northern hemisphere.

Etymology: It is named after the skilled lichenologist James C. Lende- mer, New York Botanical Garden (NY), who provided first molecular data for members of this species group (e.g. for L. reptans), to recognise his important contribution to lichenology.

Distribution and species diversity: Arctic-alpine and boreal-montane, as well as Mediterranean distribution in the northern hemisphere. The genus is hitherto including 7 species (Lendemeriella borealis, L. dakotensis*, L exsecuta, L. nivalis, L. reptans, L. sorocarpa, and L. tornoensis).

Taxonomic notes and phylogenetic affiliations: In numerous phylogenet- ic trees of the Teloschistaceae with varying number of vouchers and species included the genus Lendemeriella is positioned in the separate robust branch in sister position to the branches of the genera Olegblumia, Rufoplaca and Usno- chroma of the Pyrenodesmia s. l. subclade of the Caloplacoideae.

The genus Lendemeriella is similar to Olegblumia S. Y. Kondr., L. Lőkös et J.-S. Hur, but differs in having crustose or subsquamulose to mostly indistinct (not lobate) thallus, being mostly fertile (vs. apothecia not known), in having parietin chemosyndrome and sedifolia grey or Lecidea green pigment in the cortex of thallus and exciple (vs. vicanicin and caloplacoicin), as well as in having different ecology and distribution.

The genus Lendemeriella is similar to Bryoplaca Søchting, Frödén et Arup in having similar substrate (i.e. bryophytes, wood, etc.) and distribution for some species, but differs in having crustose or subsquamulose to mostly in- distinct thallus, and in having different chemosyndrome type.

The genus Lendemeriella is similar to Blastenia A. Massal. in having dark brown to rusty brown or rusty reddish own margin or/and disk of apothecia, but differs in having mostly indistinct or badly developed thallus, in having mostly wider variation of ascospores and ascospore septum measurements and in chemistry.

Based on morphological and previous molecular data Lendemeriella species were previously considered as members of the ‘Caloplaca’ conversa/ conglomerata group and ‘Caloplaca’ exsecuta group (after Vondrák et al. 2019). Four species of this genus, i.e.: Lendemeriella exsecuta, L. nivalis, L sorocarpa, and L. tornoensis, mentioned as members of the ‘Caloplaca’ exsecuta group by Vondrák and colleagues (Vondrák et al. 2019).

The position of ‘Caloplaca’ conglomerata (Bagl.) Jatta mentioned as the sec- ond species of the ‘Caloplaca’ conversa / conglomerata group (sensu Vondrák et al. 2019) is unclear pending for molecular data.

Some contradictive molecular data are submitted to GenBank for, for ex- ample, Lendemeriella conversa, and L. reptans. Clarifying position of these and other possible Lendemeriella species have to wait until additional molecular data are available.

Species