GRAPHIS ScnIPTA - Universitetet i Oslo

Protothelenella rylina new to Finland
PIETER. P. G. VAN DEN BOOM
van den Boom, P. P. G. 1992: Protothelenella rylina new to Finla nd. Graphis
Scipta 4: 33-34. Stockholm. ISSN 0901 -7593.
Protothelenella xyltry! Mayrh. & Poelt, so far known only from the Alps, is
reported as new to Finland, from the Pallastunturi reserve near Muonio.
Pieter van den Boom, Azi€laan 12, s69ILC son, The Netherlands.
In the summer of 1988 I made a trip mainly
through central and northern Fennoscandia
with the aim to study lichens in this part of
Europe. A few days were spent in northern
Finland, the area of Muonio, within the
Pallastunturi reserve. ca. 170 collections were
made.
The most important collection was
Protothelenella xylina. The specimen was
collected 15 km E of Muonio near the
entrance of the Pallastunturi reserve from
weathered lignum of a high stump in a damp
Betula-Picea-Pinus forest with scattered
boulders, 67o 57' N, 24" 00, E, alt. 300 m, 24
July 1988. P. rylina was growing in a
moderately shaded place.
The morphological characters of the
species are: thallus endoxylic, yellowish greygreen;
perithecia black, up to 0.3 mm in diam.,
numerous; ascospores submuriform to
muriform, colourless, Z0-ZS x L}-_LZ ltm
(Figure 1).
Associated with Protothelenella rylina
were: Buellia grbeovirens, Calicium
denigratum, Cladonia botrytes, C. cenotea,
Hypocenomyce scalaris, Lecanora cf. hypopta,
Mycoblastus sanguinaius, Ochrolechia
androgtna, Parmeliopsis ambigua, p.
hyperopta, a Porpid.ia sp. which refers to p.
crustulata, Stereocaulon alpinum (atranorin,
lobaric acid and unknown trace RF6 detected
by TLC) and Trapeliopsis granulosa.
The lichen genus Protothelenella is
separated from Microglaena by having amyloid
asci, a distinct amyloid apical apparatus,
amyloid jelly and by the structure of the
ascocarps (Mayrhofer & Poelt 1935). These
authors provide the first description of p.
rylina and mention five other species of
Protothelenella. Howevef a few years later
three additional species have been published
in Mayrhofer (1987).
Distribution
Protothelenella rylina is known from two
localities in the Alps of Switzerland and
Austria. Collected only from lignum of pinus
cembra (Mayrhofer & Poelt 1985).
Although the occurence of relative many
species of Protothelenella have been
mentioned from northern Europe in
Mayrhofer (1957) there were no previous
records of P. rylina.
A duplicate of the collection of p. rylina is
deposited in the herbarium of the Botanical
Museum at Helsinki.
Acknowledgements
Thanks are due to Dr. H. Mayrhofer for
confirming the identification of p. rylina and
to Dr. H. Sipman for the identification of
Stereocaulon alpinum.