Discoveries through social media and in your own backyard: two new species of Allographa (Graphidaceae) with pigmented lirellae from the Palaeotropics, with a world key to species of this group

The genus Graphis sensu Staiger was recently divided into two genera, Graphis s. str. and Allographa. The latter contains mostly species with robust lirellae with a well-developed, often massively carbonized excipulum. With one exception, it also contains all species with a pigmented, yellow to orange pruina on the lirellae. Until now, seven species of Allographa were known with this character, all present in the Neotropics and one also in Africa. Here we describe two further species, both from tropical Asia, thus extending the known distribution of Allographa species with pigmented lirellae to the entire tropics. Allographa kamojangensis Jatnika, Noer & Lücking sp. nov. from Indonesia (Java) was recognized as a new taxon on the social media Facebook site Lichens Connecting People. Detailed studies showed that it deviates from the neotropical A. firferi in the much larger ascospores and the orange, K+ immediately purple-violet pigment, and from A. lutea in the completely carbonized excipulum and the larger ascospores. Allographa jayatilakana Weerakoon, Arachchige & Lücking sp. nov. was discovered in the second author's backyard during a recent inventory of Graphidaceae in Sri Lanka. It differs from A. flavominiata in the much shorter ascospores, from A. firferi in the terminally muriform ascospores, and from A. ochracea in the yellow-orange, K+ yellow then slowly purple-violet pruina. A key is presented to all nine species of Allographa with pigmented lirellae.

Draft Genome Sequence of Janthinobacterium sp. Ant5-2-1, Isolated from Proglacial Lake Podprudnoye in the Schirmacher Oasis of East Antarctica

Janthinobacterium sp. Ant5-2-1, isolated from the Schirmacher Oasis of East Antarctica, produces a purple-violet pigment, manifests diverse energy metabolism abilities, and tolerates cold, ultraviolet radiation, and other environmental stressors. We report here the 6.19-Mb draft genome of strain Ant5-2-1, which will help understand its survival mechanisms in extreme Antarctic ecosystems.