Study On The Lichen Genus Lecidea And Its Related Lecideoid Lichens From Western China

Lecidea and its related lecideoid lichens are very similiar and easy to be confusedand they are wide spread in China but no extensive taxonomic study has ever been done.Thus it is rather important to clarify how many species are present in China and todifferentiate each of them.This is the first taxonomic study of the genus Lecidea and its related lecideoidlichens of Lecideaceae and Lecanoraceae in Western China, using the methods ofmorphology, anatomy, chemistry and geography. The study is based on more than 1200specimens from 10 provinces of Western China which are now deposited in HMAS-L,KUN, KoLRI and SDNU. 57 taxa of 10 genera are reported in this paper, of which 3species new to science and 27 taxa new to China. New to science: Miriquidicayunnanensis, Porpidia shangrila and P. squamosa. New to China:Amygdalaria continua, Carbonea vorticosa, Clauzadea immerse, C. metzleri,Lecidea atromorio, L. confluens, L. diducens, L. lapicida var. pantherina, L. ochroleuca,L. promiscens, L. tessellata var. caesia,"Lecidea"berengeriana,"Lecidea"cyrtidia,"Lecidea"floridensis,"Lecidea"lichenicola,"Lecidea"pseudaglaea, Lecidellabullata, L. nashiana, Miriquidica deusta, M. leucophaea, M. plumbeoatra,Porpidia carlottiana, P. flavicunda, P. lowiana, P. soredizodes, P. thomsonii andP. tuberculosa. Besides, the genus Clauzadea is a new record for China.The geographical analysis of all 57 taxa reported from Western China shows that thefollowing six elements can be divided: Cosmopolitan element (12 taxa, accounting for21.05 percent of the total species of Western China), North Temperate element (34 taxa,59.66%), East Asian-North American disjunctive element (3 taxa, 5.24%), East Asianelement (1 taxa, 1.75%), Old World Temperate element (4 taxa, 7.02%) and elementendemic to China (3 taxa, 5.26%). The result of this analysis shows: 1) the main floraelements are Cosmopolitan element and North Temperate element, 2) the nature of thecommunity flora is the obviously temperate zone. Species composition and local distribution of the lichen flora of Western China arereported for the first time. Key to genera and keys to species of Lecidea, Lecidella,Miriquidica and Porpidia from Western China are given in the present thesis. Thedetailed descriptions of 3 new species from China and 27 new records to China aregiven and the characterized features of them are discussed as well.Twenty-eight secondary metabolites are examined by color reaction test (CT) andThin-Layer Chromatography (TLC).The morphological photoes of the thalli of all new species and new taxa presentedin this thesis are provided. This study enriches the distribution data of the the lecideoidlichens of China and also provides basic data for Flora Lichens Sinicarum.