Taxonomic Study On The Lichen Family Pertusariaceae In Xinjiang And The Neighboring Areas

Pertusariaceae is classified into Pertusariales under Lecanoramycetidae, Ascomycetes,Ascomycota. It contains four genera Ochrolechia Massal, Pertusaria DC, ThamnochrolechiaAptroot & Sipman and Varicellaria Nyl.. The largest genus in the family is Pertusaria. The familyis characterized by hemiangiocarpous ascocarp, thick-walled asci, relatively large spores andgreen algae as primary photobionts.The studies of the lichen family Pertusariaceae from Northwestern China are performedaccording to the morphology, anatomy, chemistry, geography and ecology on the basis ofinvestigation of the specimens from Shaanxi, Xinjiang , Xizang and Inner Mongolia. Thirty-onespecies included in three genera which are Ochrolechia, Pertusaria and Varicellaria are reportedin this paper. Among them 3 species, Ochrolechia pseudopallescens, Pertusaria multipunctoidesand Pertusaria thwaitesii are described to be newly recorded species in China. Most of all, twospecies are described to be new species to the world according to the specimens collected inXinjiang by the author. They are Pertusaria tianshanensis J.Z.Z & Z.T.Z and Pertusariaxinjiangensis J.Z.Z & Z.T.Z.The geographical analysis of taxa reported in the paper indicates that the thirty-one speciesbelong to seven geographical elements, and they are cosmopolitan element, circumpolar element,East Asian-North American disjunctive element, Eastern Asia element, Eurasian element ,Pantropical element and element endemic to China respectively. Circumpolar element is the mostpopular in China.The keys of the genera Ochrolechia and Pertusaria, the family Pertusariaceae and the orderPertusariales are presented in the paper. Each species of the thirty-one is describedmorphologically, anatomically, chemically and geographically in detail. The discussion betweeneach species and its similar species is also provided.The chemical constituents were identified by using thin layer chromatography and chemicalspot test. Twenty-one kinds of the chemical substances are identified during the examination. Theyare classified into the following five varieties: aliphatic acids, depsides, depsidones, depsones andxanthones. The TLC characters of these substances are also provided. In addition, five chemicalsubstances, cryptostictic acid, hypericin, peristictic acid, planaic acid and stictic acid are identifiedby using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC).The distribution maps of the thirty-one taxon in China are drawn on the basis of the researchresults and the corresponding cited literatures. The morphological photos of the thallus andsome ascospores are also taken and given in the paper.