''Parmelia lambii'' is a species of

foliose lichen Foliose lichen is one of the morphological classes of lichens, which are complex organisms that arise from the symbiotic relationship between fungi and a photosynthetic partner, typically algae. This partnership allows lichen to live in diverse ...

in the family

Parmeliaceae The Parmeliaceae is a large and diverse family of Lecanoromycetes. With over 2700 species in 71 genera, it is the largest family of lichen-forming fungi. The most speciose genera in the family are the well-known groups: '' Xanthoparmelia'' ( 822 ...

. It is found in the

Antarctic Peninsula The Antarctic Peninsula, known as O'Higgins Land in Chile and Tierra de San Martín in Argentina, and originally as Graham Land in the United Kingdom and the Palmer Peninsula in the United States, is the northernmost part of mainland Antarctic ...

Taxonomy

The species was first described by

Auguste-Marie Hue Father Auguste-Marie Hue (15 August 1840– 22 June 1917) was a French lichenologist. Biography Hue was born on 15 August 1840, in Saint-Saëns, Seine-Maritime. He was Ordination, ordained as a priest in 1865. From 1890 to 1915 he was a chaplain ...

in 1915 as ''Physcia tabacina''. The

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular wiktionary:en:specimen, specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to a ...

was collected from Jenny Island in

Marguerite Bay Marguerite Bay or Margaret Bay is an extensive bay on the west side of the Antarctic Peninsula, which is bounded on the north by Adelaide Island and on the south by Wordie Ice Shelf, George VI Sound and Alexander Island. The mainland coast on th ...

. Although the specimen was later lost,

Elke Mackenzie Elke Mackenzie (11 September 1911 – 18 January 1990), born Ivan Mackenzie Lamb, was a British polar explorer and botanist who specialised in the field of lichenology. Early life Mackenzie was born in Clapham, London, on 11 September 1911. Mack ...

had examined it and written up an unpublished description in 1959. Based on Mackenzie's detailed description, Dag Olav Øvstedal proposed in 2009 that the specimen actually represented a previously unrecognized species of '' Parmelia''. He considered that the minute punctiform (point-like)

pseudocyphella Pseudocyphellae (singular ''pseudocyphella'') are structures in lichens that appear as tiny pores on the outer surface (the cortex of the lichen. They are caused when there is a break in the cortex of the lichen, and the medullary hyphae extend t ...

e suggested a position in genus ''

Punctelia ''Punctelia'' is a genus of foliose lichens belonging to the large family Parmeliaceae. The genus, which contains about 50 species, was segregated from genus ''Parmelia'' in 1982. Characteristics that define ''Punctelia'' include the presence of ...

'', but the presence of atranorin and

salazinic acid Salazinic acid is a depsidone with a lactone ring. It is found in some lichens, and is especially prevalent in ''Parmotrema'' and ''Bulbothrix'', where its presence or absence is often used to help classify species in those genera. History I ...

as lichen products indicated a placement in ''Parmelia''. Because the name ''Parmelia tabacina'' had already been published for another taxon, a new name was need, and so Øvstedal honoured Elke Mackenzie (formerly Lamb) in the new

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''lambii''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q108131317 lambii Lichen species Lichens described in 2009 Lichens of Antarctica Taxa named by Dag Olav Øvstedal