Taxonomic Study On The Lichen Genus Rhizocarpon Of Western China

The lichen genus Rhizocarpon is classified into Rhizocarpaceae, Lecanorales, Lecanoromycetes, Ascomycota, Fungi. Rhizocarpon includes 224 species wordwide, of which 31 species have been reported in China.This paper makes a taxonomic study of 291 specimens of Rhizocarpon collected from western China, which are preserved in the lichen section of botanical herbarium, Shandong Normal University (SDNU), the lichen section of herbarium, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (HMAS-L), and the lichen herbarium of the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences (KUN).By using the methods of morphology and anatomy, lichen chemistry and analysis of ITS sequences, I identified all the specimens one by one, and 27 species are identified successfully, of which, there are 1 new species:Rhizocarpon ingens sp. nov.,15 species new to China:R. atrovirellum, R. effiguratum, R. furax, R. hochstetteri, R. intersitum, R. lavatum, R. parvum, R. polycarpum, R. pusillum, R. reductum, R. rittokense, R. saurinum, R. subgeminatum, R. submodestum, R. umbilicartum, R. umense, and others are species reported previously:R. copelandii, R. disporum, R. eupetraeoides, R. geminatum, R. geographicum, R. grande, R. lecanorinum, R. riparium, R. rubescens, R. superficiale. Characters of morphology and anatomy, chemical substances and distributions of the 27 species are described in detail, discussions, photos and a key to these species are also provided.What's more, I extract the DNA sequences, make a phylogenetic tree and analyze these species in a molecular level, compare the same species from different regions.This study is the first time for Rhizocarpon in China, which makes a contribution to the Chinese lichenology and this study would be the basis of the compilation of Lichen Flora of China in the future.