Chlorangium ahmadii sp. nov. and Circinaria darelensis sp. nov. two new species of lichenized Ascomycetes from Pakistan

Chlorangium ahmadii sp. nov. and Circinaria darelensis sp. nov. are described as new species from Pakistan. A comparative morpho-anatomical, chemical study and ITS-based molecular analyses confirmed the positions of these species within the genera Chlorangium and Circinaria. Chlorangium ahmadii sp. nov. differs from its closely related species, C. alpicola in having light brown to whitish-brown thallus (vs. brownish-grey to greyish-green), flat to concave apothecial disc (vs. concave to convex when young, becoming more flat when old), smaller exciple 20–35 μm (vs. 65–85 μm) and larger ascospores 27–40 × 22–25 μm (vs. 19–24 × 19–23 μm). Circinaria darelensis sp. nov. is distinguished from its closely related species, C. maculata in having crustose-areolate light brown to greyish-brown thallus (vs. areolate, brown, olive brown to dark olive), absence of lobes (vs. presence), taller hymenium 120–190 μm (vs. 100–125 µm) and smaller ascospores 14–17 × 6–10 μm (vs. 22.5–27.5 × 15–20 µm).