Parmelia sulymae
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| Parmelia sulymae | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Ascomycota |
| Class: | Lecanoromycetes |
| Order: | Lecanorales |
| Family: | Parmeliaceae |
| Genus: | Parmelia |
| Species: | P. sulymae |
| Binomial name | |
| Parmelia sulymae | |
 Holotype: Clearwater River drainage, British Columbia, Canada | |
Parmelia sulymae is a species of foliose lichen in the family Parmeliaceae.[1] Found in humid forests of north-western North America. It was described in 2017 on the basis of morphology and DNA data that set it apart from lookalikes in the Parmelia saxatilis group, especially P. hygrophila. In practice, it is recognised by its narrow lobes, its tendency to produce compact granular propagules along the lobe margins, and its fine, often forking root‑like holdfasts on the lower surface. The species was named after Randy Sulyma, a British Columbia biologist, through a conservation auction where his family purchased the naming rights to help protect parkland. Like its close relatives, it reproduces mainly by shedding tiny packages of fungus and algae rather than producing spores, making it well-suited to the consistently moist conditions of old-growth forests.
The species was described new to science in 2017 by Trevor Goward, Pradeep Divakar, María del Carmen Molina, and Ana Crespo, with the holotype from the Clearwater River drainage in British Columbia, Canada, collected on dead subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa).[2] The epithet honours the British Columbia biologist Randy Sulyma (1968–2011); his family purchased the naming rights for $17,900 at a conservation auction, with proceeds going to a campaign to secure a wildlife corridor linking the two southern arms of Wells Gray Provincial Park; Goward described the auction as an early instance of 'taxonomic tithing'.[3][4]
Molecular analyses using internal transcribed spacer rDNA and the protein‑coding gene MCM7 recovered P. sulymae as a distinct clade within the broad P. saxatilis complex; in that tree it is closely related to P. serrana. The same study separated several British Columbia morphotypes, describing both P. sulymae and P. imbricaria as new species, while showing that two other morphs fell within P. saxatilis in the strict sense.[2]
Although superficially similar to P. hygrophila (both produce compact, isidia‑like granules), P. sulymae differs in consistently narrower lobes, the way its propagules start along the lobe margins, and its more frequently forking rhizines. Where the lichen grows on rock, some specimens can be coarse and hard to separate from P. hygrophila by eye; in such cases the authors indicate that sequence data may be needed.[2]