Two New Species of the Family Acarosporaceae from South Korea

Acarosporaceae is a crustose lichen and is known as a species that has more than 50 multi-spores, and has hyaline spores. Those taxa are often found in rock and soil in mountain areas or coastal regions in Korea, and very diverse forms and species are known. However, after an overall genetic phylogenetic analysis of carbonized ascomata in 2015, species consisting only of the morphological base are newly divided, and several species of Acarosporaceae in Korea are also being discovered in this situation. As a result of analysis using internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and nuLSU gene analysis, Korean species belonged to Acarospora and Sarcogyne clade, and Acarospora classified as the Acarospora clade was mixed with the Polysporina group and the Sarcogyne clade is mixed with the Acarospora. We identified two new species (Acarospora beangnokdamensis J. S. Park & S. O. Oh, sp. nov., Sarcogyne jejuensis J. S. Park & S. O. Oh, sp. nov.) through morphological, molecular, and secondary metabolite substance and found one new record (Sarcogyne oceanica K. Knudsen & Kocourk). We have made a classification key for Acarospora and Sarcogyne in Korea and reported all information together here.

Automated summary

After a genetic phylogenetic analysis of carbonized ascomata in 2015, Acarosporaceae species consisting only of morphological base were newly divided, leading to the discovery of several new Acarosporaceae species in Korea. Analysis of ITS and nuLSU genes showed that Korean species belonged to the Acarospora and Sarcogyne clades, with Acarospora in the Acarospora clade mixed with the Polysporina group and Sarcogyne in the Sarcogyne clade mixed with Acarospora. Two new species (Acarospora beangnokdamensis J. S. Park & S. O. Oh, sp. nov., Sarcogyne jejuensis J. S. Park & S. O. Oh, sp. nov.) and one new record (Sarcogyne oceanica K. Knudsen & Kocourk) were identified through morphological, molecular, and secondary metabolite substance analysis. A classification key for Acarospora and Sarcogyne in Korea was created and all information is reported here.