Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 December 2019
As part of our ongoing research on Peltigera, we recognize a morphologically and phylogenetically distinct new species, Peltigera shennongjiana L. F. Han & S. Y. Guo, from the Shennongjia region of Central China. It is distinguished from other members of the P. canina-group by the presence of abundant phyllidia and flat, branched lobules along the margin or laminal cracks, short lobes, and a pruinose, usually greyish upper surface. The various populations sampled share identical ITS nr DNA sequences, of which the ITS2 regions are characterized by a unique secondary structure. Furthermore, we provide a detailed comparison of the characteristics of P. shennongjiana with morphologically similar species and a key to Peltigera species reported from China.
L.-F. Han, J.-Y. Yang and S.-Q. Bei contributed equally to this work.