''Peltigera weberi'' is a rare species of
foliose lichen in the family
Peltigeraceae.
It is found in
Papua New Guinea, where it grows on road banks and on earth and rock debris.
Taxonomy
The lichen was
formally described as a new species in 2009 by
Emmanuël Sérusiaux
Emmanuël Sérusiaux (born 3 October 1953) is a Belgian lichenologist. His career, spanning more than four decades, has combined both lichenology research and political aspects of nature conservation. He spent several periods working as a res ...
, Bernard Goffinet, Jolanta Miądlikowska, and
Orvo Vitikainen
Orvo Vitikainen (born 11 October 1940 in Taipalsaari) is a Finnish lichenologist. He entered the University of Helsinki in 1961, from where he obtained a Candidate of Philosophy degree in 1966, and a Licentiate of Philosophy in 1971. He later ...
. The
type specimen was collected from the road just above
Goroka
Goroka is the capital of the Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea. It is a town of approximately 19,000 people (2000), above sea level. It has an airport (in the centre of town) and is on the "Highlands Highway", about 285 km from L ...
(
Eastern Highlands Province) at an altitude of , where it was found growing on
clay banks beside the road. The
species epithet Specific name may refer to:
* in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database
In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules:
* Specific name (botany)
A botanical name ...
honours American lichenologist
William Alfred Weber
William Alfred Weber (November 16, 1918 – March 18, 2020) was an American botanist and lichenologist. He was Professor Emeritus at the University of Colorado at Boulder and former curator of the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History, ...
, who collected the type specimen in 1968 and, according to the authors, "was the first lichenologist to collect lichens extensively in Papua New Guinea".
Within the genus ''
Peltigera'', ''P. weberi'' belongs to
section ''Polydactylon'', and
molecular phylogenetic
Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...
analysis shows that it is closely related to ''
P. oceanica'' and ''
P. nana''.
Description
The thallus of ''Peltigera weberi'' is small and inconspicuous, made of rounded that are typically large near the extremities. The upper surface is smooth and typically dull, while the lower surface is orange to greyish with a poorly developed network of slightly raised .
Soralia, typically , are always present, and
rhizines are to and not abundant.
The use of
thin-layer chromatography revealed the presence of four
lichen products:
methylgyrophorate,
tenuiorin,
dolichorhizin and
zeorin
Zeorin is a triterpene with the molecular formula C30H52O2 which occurs in many lichens
A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among hypha, filaments of multiple fungus, fungi species in a mutu ...
.
Habitat and distribution
''Peltigera weberi'' is a rare Papuan species that grows on earth and rock debris, as well as on road banks, at elevations between .
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q10622592
weberi
Lichen species
Lichens described in 2009
Lichens of New Guinea
Taxa named by Emmanuël Sérusiaux
Taxa named by Orvo Vitikainen