''Iqbalia'' is a single-species fungal

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

in the family

Teloschistaceae The Teloschistaceae are a large family of mostly lichen-forming fungi belonging to the class Lecanoromycetes in the division Ascomycota. The family, estimated to contain over 1800 species, was extensively revised in 2013, including the creation o ...

. It contains ''Iqbalia kashmirensis'', a saxicolous (rock-dwelling),

crustose lichen Crustose lichens are lichens that form a crust which strongly adheres to the Substrate (biology), substrate (soil, rock, tree bark, etc.), making separation from the substrate impossible without destruction. The basic structure of crustose lichen ...

found in

Azad Kashmir Azad Jammu and Kashmir (; ), abbreviated as AJK and colloquially referred to as simply Azad Kashmir, is a region administered by Pakistan as a nominally self-governing entitySee: * * * and constituting the western portion of the larger Ka ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

Taxonomy

''Iqbalia'' was

circumscribed In geometry, the circumscribed circle or circumcircle of a polygon is a circle that passes through all the vertices of the polygon. The center of this circle is called the circumcenter and its radius is called the circumradius. Not every polyg ...

in 2022 by Iram Fayyaz, Najam Ul Sehar Afshan, and

Sergey Kondratyuk Sergey Yakovlevich Kondratyuk ( uk, Сергій Якович Кондратюк) (born 17 May 1959) is a Ukrainian botanist specialising in lichenology. His research deals with the taxonomy, floristics, ecology and geography of lichens and lic ...

. The genus name honours the Pakistani

mycologist Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungus, fungi, including their genetics, genetic and biochemistry, biochemical properties, their Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy and ethnomycology, their use to humans, including as a so ...

S.H. Iqbal, professor at the

University of the Punjab The University of the Punjab (Urdu, pnb, ), also referred to as Punjab University, is a public, research, coeducational higher education institution located in Lahore, Pakistan. Punjab University is the oldest public university in Pakistan. ...

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

, Pakistan, "in recognition of his contributions to lichen flora of Pakistan". The species epithet ''kashmirensis'' refers to the type locality. ''Iqbalia'' is in the subfamily Teloschistoideae. On the

phylogenetic tree A phylogenetic tree (also phylogeny or evolutionary tree Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, MA.) is a branching diagram or a tree showing the evolutionary relationships among various biological spec ...

of the family Teloschistaceae, it appears on a

monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gro ...

branch between the genera '' Stellarangia'' and ''

Kaernefia ''Kaernefia'' is a genus of crustose lichens in the family Teloschistaceae. It has three species, found in Australia or South Africa. Taxonomy ''Kaernefia'' was circumscribed in 2013 by Sergey Kondratyuk, John Elix, Arne Thell, and Jae-Seoun Hu ...

''.

Description

The genus ''Iqbalia shares'' similarities with the Australian genus ''

Nevilleiella ''Nevilleiella'' is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the subfamily Teloschistoideae of the family Teloschistaceae. It has two species of crustose lichens that are found in Australia. Taxonomy The genus was circumscription (taxonomy), circums ...

'', particularly in terms of their

thallus Thallus (plural: thalli), from Latinized Greek (), meaning "a green shoot" or "twig", is the vegetative tissue of some organisms in diverse groups such as algae, fungi, some liverworts, lichens, and the Myxogastria. Many of these organisms wer ...

(the main body of the lichen) colouration, which ranges from brownish-yellow to orange. Both genera also develop -like formations on the surface of their thallus. However, ''Iqbalia'' can be distinguished by its distinct (small, isolated patches of thallus), which are separate and not clustered together, unlike those in ''Nevilleiella''. Furthermore, ''Iqbalia'' does not form -like formations, a type of structure resembling small, split-off fragments. Another difference lies in the ; when observed in water, the ascospores of ''Iqbalia'' have a wide

septum In biology, a septum (Latin for ''something that encloses''; plural septa) is a wall, dividing a cavity or structure into smaller ones. A cavity or structure divided in this way may be referred to as septate. Examples Human anatomy * Interatri ...

(an internal dividing partition). This characteristic is distinct from what is observed in ''Nevilleiella''. Chemically, ''Iqbalia'' is unique for containing variolaric acid, a secondary metabolite ( lichen product) not found in ''Nevilleiella''. Additionally, the two genera differ ecologically in their preferred habitats. ''Iqbalia'' typically grows on

calcareous rock Calcareous () is an adjective meaning "mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate", in other words, containing lime or being chalky. The term is used in a wide variety of scientific disciplines. In zoology ''Calcareous'' is used as an adje ...

s, which are rich in calcium carbonate, while ''Nevilleiella'' is more commonly found on soil in desert conditions.

Habitat and distribution

''Iqbalia kashmirensis'' is only known to occur at the type locality in Azad Kashmir. There, at an elevation of , it grows on calcareous rock.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q119110545 , from2=Q119110552 Teloschistales Teloschistales genera Monotypic Lecanoromycetes genera Lichen genera Taxa described in 2022 Taxa named by Sergey Kondratyuk