Two new species of Sticta (Peltigeraceae subfam. Lobarioideae) from the Brazilian Cerrado (Brazilian savanna)

Sticta, the most diverse genus of the Lobarioideae (Ascomycota: Peltigeraceae), contains species easily recognized by the presence of genuine cyphellae on the lower cortex of the thallus. Two new species collected in typical cerrado vegetation in Central Brazil are described as S. cerradensis and S. porella, including morphological, anatomical, and molecular analyses based on the ITS region. The two new taxa belong to one of the major Sticta clades, which contains mostly New World species. This work shows that the cerrado, a global biodiversity hotspot located in the center of South America, could contain a great diversity of new species of lichenized fungi.