Lecanora darelensis , a new species of Lecanoraceae from Darel Valley, Gilgit Baltistan, Pakistan

A new species, Lecanora darelensis sp. nov. is described here from Darel Valley, Gilgit Baltistan, Pakistan. A comparative morpho-anatomical, chemical study and ITSbased molecular analyses confirmed the position of new species within the genus Lecanora . The new taxon is phylogenetically closely related to L. argopholis . The former can be distinguished from latter in having pale yellowish green upper surface (vs yellowish white), larger apothecial disc 0.5-1.5 mm (vs c. 1.2 mm), brown, plane to convex, pruinose to rarely epruinose apothecial disc (vs deep yellowish brown, plane or slightly concave, epruinose), taller epihymenium 25-35 mu m (vs c. 20 mu m), taller hymenium 110-150 mu m (vs 70-75 mu m), larger ascospores 14-18 x 5-8 mu m (vs c. 12.7 x 7.3 mu m), atranorin is detected by TLC (vs atranorin, epanorin, zeorin) and growing on calcareous rocks (vs rock surfaces, detritus, mosses, sloping siliceous and calcareous rocks, boulders, gravel).