Abstract
Parmotrema trippianum sp. nov. is described as new to science and named in honor of the lichenologist, botanist, and biodiversity scientist Dr. Erin Manzitto-Tripp. The new species grows on rocks in rich, mesic, montane canyons in the Colorado Front Range of the southern Rocky Mountains and the Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona. Phylogenetically, it is a member of the Parmotrema reticulatum species complex, and indeed, does share some morphological similarities with members of this species complex, including the production of medullary salazinic acid, reticulate maculae, and submarginal soredia. However, it differs from these and other species by its production of abundant lobules and cortical warts, from which pustular consoredia erupt, these forming large, subarbuscular agglomerations. Nuclear ribosomal Internal Transcribed Spacer phylogenies of closely related species and an identification key to Parmotrema with salazinic acid known from North America are presented to facilitate future identification of specimens derived from this diverse group.
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