''Parmelinella schimperiana'' 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

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

, and

South India South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territo ...

, where it typically grows on bark, but less frequently on rock.

Taxonomy

The lichen was described as a new species in 2016 by lichenologists Paul Kirika and Pradeep Divakar. 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 near Ngutwa village, Wote ( Eastern Province, Kenya). Here it was found growing on bark in dry woodland. The

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 ...

''schimperiana'' honours German botanist

Georg Wilhelm Schimper Georg Heinrich Wilhelm Schimper in Amharic sources known as Sambar (2 August 1804 – October 1878) was a renowned German botanist and naturalist, who spent more than forty years in Ethiopia collecting specimens of plants, mainly in Semien, ...

, who was the first to scientifically collect lichens in East Africa.

Description

''Parmelinella schimperiana'' is a greyish-green, foliose (leafy) species measuring across. The lobes comprising the thallus are somewhat irregularly branched and measure wide with rounded or scalloped edges. The results of standard chemical spot test are cortex K+ (yellow); medulla K+ (yellow turning red), C−, KC−, P+ (orange-red). Secondary chemicals present in the lichen are secalonic acid A and atranorin in the upper cortex 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 ...

in the medulla. The lichen resembles the widely distributed species '' Parmelinella wallichiana'', but has smaller

ascospore An ascus (; ) is the sexual spore-bearing cell produced in ascomycete fungi. Each ascus usually contains eight ascospores (or octad), produced by meiosis followed, in most species, by a mitotic cell division. However, asci in some genera or s ...

s (measuring 5–10 by 5–7.5

μm The micrometre ( international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: μm) or micrometer (American spelling), also commonly known as a micron, is a unit of length in the International System of Unit ...

compared to 15–20 by 9–14 μm in ''P. wallichiana'') and a more restricted distribution.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q73172846 Parmeliaceae Lichen species Lichens described in 2016 Lichens of Cameroon Lichens of India Lichens of Kenya Taxa named by Pradeep Kumar Divakar