Inventory of lichens in Myanmar
Myanmar is considered to hold important and irreplaceable biodiversity that is part of the Indo-Burma Biodiversity Hotspot. Habitats range from the mangrove forests and coral reefs of the Andaman Islands in the south to the snow-capped peaks of Mt. Kakaboradzi (5,881 m) in the north, the highest mountain in Southeast Asia. Despite much attention paid to the investigation and conservation of plant and animal biodiversity, the lichen mycota has been poorly studied so far.
Lichens are lichenized fungi of Ascomycota and Basidiomycota which have symbiotic relationship with algae and/or cyanobacteria. It consists of about 20,000 species on the earth where it distributes from the Polar region to the Tropics and sea level to high alpine elevations. It is estimated that 6-8% of Earth's land surface is covered by lichens. Most of lichens belong to Ascomycota (ca. 99%) and the rest belong to dBasidiomycota (ca. 1%). The shape of lichens can be roughly categorized into three: i.e., foliose, fruticose, and crustose. However, these categories are artificial and not reflect their phylogenies. Taxonomy of lichens are examined mainly based on morphological traits, but chemical features are also of taxonomic importance for lichens which generally produce one to several major substances in their thallus. There are also lichens that don't produce detectible substances by a thin layer chromatography.
Regarding to lichen mycota of Myanmar, only 9 genera 10 species and one variety of lichens were reported before the present project. Since there are about 20,000 species of lichens in the world, about 1,800 species in Japan, and about 1,300 species in Thailand, people can easily understand how little research has been done on lichens in Myanmar.
In this project, we conducted field investigations in Tanintharyi Region on January 2017, Chin Hills on November 2017, and Karen Hills on June 2019. A total of 957 specimens were collected and housed in the herbarium of National Museum of Nature and Science, Japan (TNS), and the selected duplicates were housed in the herbaria of Forest Research Institute, Myanmar (RAF) and National Taiwan University, Taiwan (TAI). As the results of taxonomic study based on morphological, chemical, and molecular data, the identified 21 species were published as follow:
Astrothelium macrocarpum (Fée) Aptroot & Lücking (Fig. 1)
Bulbothrix subscortea (Asahina) Marcelli & Benatti (Fig. 2)
Coccocarpia erythroxyli (Spreng.) Swinscow & Krog (Fig. 3)
Coccocarpia palmicola (Spreng.) Arv. & D.J. Galloway
Cruentotrema thailandicum Rivas Plata, Papong & Lumbsch (Fig. 4)
Dirinaria aegialita (Afzel. ex Ach.) B.J. Moore
Dirinaria consimilis (Stirt.) D.D. Awasthi
Dyplolabia afzelii (Ach.) A. Massal. (Fig. 5)
Flakea papillata O.E. Erikss. (Fig. 6)
Glyphis cicatricosa Ach. (Fig. 7)
Graphis cf. caesiella Vain.
Graphis desquamescens (Fée) Zahlbr.
Graphis supracola A.W. Archer
Heterocyphelium triseptatum Aptroot & M. Cáceres (Fig. 8)
Malmidea bakeri (Vain.) Kalb, Rivas Plata & Lumbsch (Fig. 9)
Physcia undulata Moberg (Fig. 10)
Pyrenula mamillana (Ach.) Trevis.
Pyxine dactyloschmidtii Kalb & Mongkolsuk
Sarcographa labyrinthica (Ach.) Müll.Arg.
Trypethelium eluteriae Spreng.
Zwackhia prosodea (Afzel.) Ertz
Fig. 1. Astrothelium macrocarpum (Fée) Aptroot & Lücking
Fig. 2. Bulbothrix subscortea (Asahina) Marcelli & Benatti
Fig. 3. Coccocarpia erythroxyli (Spreng.) Swinscow & Krog
Fig. 4. Cruentotrema thailandicum Rivas Plata, Papong & Lumbsch
Fig. 5. Dyplolabia afzelii (Ach.) A. Massal.
Fig. 6. Flakea papillata O.E. Erikss.
Fig. 7. Glyphis cicatricosa Ach.
Fig. 8. Heterocyphelium triseptatum Aptroot & M. Cáceres
Fig. 9. Malmidea bakeri (Vain.) Kalb, Rivas Plata & Lumbsch
Fig. 10. Physcia undulata Moberg
Collecting a lichen with a knife.
Collecting lichens on a tree.
Drying lichen collections at a hotel.