Researchers from Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Liaocheng University have recently described a new species of lichen forming fungus from the subtropical forests of southern China, and reported another new record in China for the first time.
The findings, published in Phytotaxa, expand knowledge of China’s rich but still poorly documented lichen diversity.
The new species, named Pallidogramme norstictica, was collected from the bark of trees in Ailao Mountains of Yunnan Province at an elevation of about 2,470 meters. It belongs to the lichen family Graphidaceae and is characterized by a brown, crust-like thallus (the lichen’s main body), lirellate (slit-like) fruiting bodies, and muriform (chambered) ascospores that turn violet when stained with iodine.
Pallidogramme norstictica is similar to Pallidogramme chapadana, but can be distinguished from the latter by the presence of norstictic acid and by having fewer septa in its ascospores. It can be recognized by its entire, later slightly striated labia, uncarbonised excipulum, clear hymenium, muriform ascospores, and norstictic acid.
The researchers also reported Pallidogramme divaricoides for the first time in China. This species was previously known only from India and Nepal. The Chinese specimens were found on tree bark in the Damingshan Mountains of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, at an elevation of around 1,240 meters. It is distinguished by its dark-grey, divaricately (forkedly) branched lirellae and transversely septate ascospores, and it produces no detectable lichen substances.
"Our findings once again confirm that the Ailao Mountain region is a highly active hotspot for lichen diversity," said LI Su of XTBG.
Specimens of both species are deposited in the Fungarium of the College of Agriculture and Biology, Liaocheng University.
Pallidogramme norstictica (Image by Jiang Shuhao)
Pallidogramme divaricoides (Image by Jiang Shuhao)
Published: 17 April 2026
