Ismailov A.B., Urbanavichus G.P., Yakovchenko L.S., Urbanavichene I.N.
Botanicheskii zhurnal 2017; 102(6): 780-796
A taxonomic review of the genus Candelariella in the Caucasus is provided. The genus Candelariella includes approximately 50 species worldwide. Until recently, six years ago, in the first Russian checklist of lichens this genus was represented by 22 species. Only seven species of Candelariella were known from the Northern Caucasus. The Caucasus, however, is a world’s biodiversity hotspot, and this number of species was too low. The number of Candelariella species increased significantly after the start of our intensive floristic studies with new records of C. antennaria, C. efflorescens, C. oleaginescens, C. plumbea, C. rhodax, C. viae-lacteae. In this paper three species (C. faginea, C. rosulans and C. superdistans) are reported new to the Caucasus. Two species (C. medians and C. placodizans) are excluded from the Caucasian lichen flora. Currently there are a total of 16 species of Candelariella in the Caucasus. The most of the species were recorded from Adygeya (10 species), Dagestan (10), Armenia (8) and Krasnodar Region (8). Candelariella commutata, C. efflorescens, C. rhodax are reported for the first time for North Ossetia and Ingushetia, C. lutella - for Dagestan and Ingushetia, C. vitellina - for Ingushetia. This paper aims to contribute to a better understanding of this poorly known genus in the Caucasus, focusing mainly on authors’ collection in different regions of the Northern Caucasus in between 2009 and 2016. A key for the identification of all the Caucasian species (including 8 provisory species) is given. Detailed descriptions, taxonomic remarks, notes on ecology, distribution in the Caucasus and known distribution in the world for each taxon are provided.
