Stray Studies in the Coronophorales (Pyrenomycetes) 4-8 - ASCOfrance

324 J. A. NannfeldtSpores obliquely uniseriate or biseriate, 1-septate, fusiform to ellipsoidal, hyaline, thinwalled,6-7x 1.5-2 p.m.N. stictarum is evidently a parasite killing the attacked parts of the host. Alsoother fungi may be responsible for the necroses and the blackening of the apotheciaand thallus parts as it is not rare to find two or more parasymbionts and parasitessimultaneously attacking a lichen thallus. However, in the Sticta specimens with N.stictarumno other fungus could be identified.Our fungus is very easily overlooked on account of its minute perithecia, whichare as dark as the substrate. When collecting specimens of Sticta lichenologists try toavoid the partly dead specimens in which the fungus grows. However, some samplesof the new fungus were found in lichen herbaria.The hosts of AT. stictarum so far known, viz. Sticta ambavillaria (Ach.) Bory andSt. tomentosa(Sw.) Ach., are two closely related species which seem to have rathersimilar ecological requirements. On the East African mountains the parasite seemsto be common in wet forests and bushlands from 2 500 to 3 500 m s.m.DISTRIBUTION: Most probably widely distributed in tropical regions. At presentknown from East Africa and South America.Africa (all finds on St. ambavillaria): Kenya: Central Prov.: Mt. Kenya, W. slope, NationalPark Road (Naro Moru Track), bamboo zone, alt. 2700-3 100 m, on Arundinaria alpina,23.i. 1970 R. Santesson 22144 f (Type). SW. slope, upper part of bamboo zone, 6.ii. 1922 R. E. &Th. C. E. Fries 4024 b (UPS). E. slope, Urumandi, alt. 3 100 m 1959 M. J. Coe (UPS). — Mt.Aberdare, along Wandera's Track, alt. 3 300 m, on Stoebe kilimandarica, 15.vii. 1971 I. & O.Hedberg 5024 1 (UPS).Tanzania: Arusha Prov.: Mt. Meru, E. slope, road to the crater, alt. 1900 m, on a big tree inthe montane forest, 7.Í.1971 R. Santesson 23073 b (UPS). E. slope, ca. 2 km N. of KitotoCamp, alt. 2450 m, on Stoebe kilimandscharica and Hypericum lanceolatum in dense Ericaceousbushland, 7.i. 1971 R. Santesson 22960, 22969 (UPS). — Kilimanjaro Prov.: Mt. Kilimanjaro,W. slope, E. of Lemosho Glades, Ericaceous zone, alt. 2800-2900 m, on various shrubs,14.i. 1970 R. Santesson 21297 a (UPS).South America (both finds on St. tomentosa): Peru: Dept. Puno: Sachapata, ix.1854 W.Lechler (parasitic on Plantae peruv. 3124; UPS).Brazil: Estado Paraná: Rio Negro 9.x. 1908 P. Dusén (S)."8. The "Nitschkia Group" in EuropeMy studies in the Scandinavian herbaria and in some others have revealed 6 speciesof this group to occur in the Nordic countries and two more in West and SouthEurope, one of which (AT. confertula) should be sought for in south-westernScandinavia. The floristic literature is insufficient to recognize them, and—as shownin Chapt. 2—their nomenclature has been badly confused. Fitzpatrick's wellfoundeddistinction between the two species that had both passed as N. cupularishas astonishingly been neglected by all subsequent European writers.SvenskBot. Tidskr. 69 (1975)