SOUTH AFRICA. Western Cape prov., between Papendorp and Strandfontein, near Vailkay bridge, 31°41'34"S, 18°13'59"E, ca. 32 m alt., 4 February 2005, A. Crespo, P.K. Divakar, D.L. Hawksworth, G. Amo & T.H. Lumbsch 63f (holotype: MAF–Lich. 19584; isotypes: MAF-Lich. 19624, 19625, 19626 and 19628).

Morphologically similar to the northern hemispheric Protoparmeliamontagnei (Fr.) Poelt & Nimis, but mainly differing from it by the presence of alectoronic acid as major secondary metabolite in the medulla. The two species, P.montagnei and N.capensis, are also genetically not closely-related and belong to different genera.

The specific epithet refers to its occurrence in Cape Province of South Africa.

Thallus saxicolous, crustose, up to 8 cm wide, thin and areolate (in younger parts, up to 1 mm thick) to mainly thick and areolate, warted or subsquamulose (up to 2.2 mm thick), irregular or orbicular; surface light grey, pale to strong brown, with whitish mottled-fissured areas (by a locally strong mucilaginous epicortex), dull; delimited, or not, by a blackish hypothalline line. Areoles irregular, polygonal to rounded, up to 2 mm in diam., mainly slightly convex to irregular or flat, surface smooth to irregular, cracked or warted, marginal areoles sometimes lobe-like. Apothecia frequent, 1 to several per areolae, zeorine to lecanorine, immersed and nearly urceolate when young to adnate or sessile and constricted at the base when adult, rounded to irregular, up to 2 mm in diam.; disc brown to brown-black, dull, concave to flat or sometimes convex; thalline exciple persistent or excluded with age, concolorous with thallus to whitish (by a strong mucilaginous epicortex); proper exciple cupulate, up to 70–155 µm thick, coherent, hyphae mainly periclinal with strong mucilaginous walls, margins reduced in young apothecia. Hymenium hyaline to yellowish, coherent, 60–75 µm tall, in the margins somewhat fan-like (together with proper exciple) and exceeding the thalline exciple in adult apothecia; epihymenium light brown to brown, up to 15 µm tall, with few irregular granules; hypothecium and subhymenium hyaline to slightly yellowish, 25–70 µm thick. Paraphyses coherent in water, branched and anastomosed, apices somewhat thickened and mainly surrounded by a brown mucilaginous hood (up to 10 µm wide). Asci clavate, 42–70 × 12–20 µm, 8–spored, amyloid tholus (excluding the axial mass) and surrounding mucilage, Lecanora–type (cf. also Maronina–type, Kantvilas et al. 2010). Ascospores hyaline, simple, 9–13(–14) × 3.5–5.5(–6) µm (n = 40), fusiform to elongate (l:b = 1.8–2.9), with rounded apices or sometimes slightly apiculate in one end, some with apical hyaline setae. Pycnidia frequent, immersed, globose to oblong, wall hyaline, ostiole tissue with brown to black pigmented walls. Conidia simple, hyaline, 7–17 × 1–1.5 µm (n = 20), bacilliform, straight.

Spot tests: medulla K– or ± unclean yellowish, C–, KC+ unclean rose-red, I–, P–, UV++ greenish-white. TLC: atranorin (traces), α–alectoronic acid (major), unidentified substance (major or traces, closed to norstictic acid, Rf class 4), ± β–alectoronic (traces) and traces of related substances.

Only known from the type locality in the arid north-west of the Cape Region (South Africa), rich in succulent plants (succulent Karoo biomes, cf. Mucina and Rutherford 2006), growing on exposed sandstones next to the Atlantic coast.

(specimen: Crespo, Divakar, Hawksworth, Amo & Lumbsch 63f, holotype: MAF–Lich. 19584). KY066279 (ITS), KP822500 (mtSSU), KP796385 (nuLSU), KP822184 (RPB1), KP823556 (TSR1).

This comprises the specimens recovered within ‘P. sp. ZA’ in ‘Protoparmelia tropical clade’ in Singh et al. (2015). Neoprotoparmeliacapensis is morphologically similar to the Protoparmeliamontagnei complex, in the sister genus Protoparmelia, but differs from the latter in its chemistry and distribution. The major secondary metabolite found in N.capensis is alectoronic acid whereas, in P.montagnei, it is lobaric and/or gyrophoric acids or fatty acids. Protoparmeliamontagnei is distributed in Eurasia on acid rocks, with mainly a broad Mediterranean distribution, from Turkey to The Canary Islands and from Ireland to Morocco (Coppins and Chambers 2009, Barbero et al. 2006). In contrast, N.capensis grows on sandstone in the Cape Region. Molecular data also clearly supports N.capensis and P.montagnei as distantly related, evolutionary independently lineages (Singh et al. 2015). Details on the morphology and chemistry of the similar P.montagnei species complex can be found in Coppins and Chambers (2009) and Barbero et al. (2006). The grey to brown thalli, 8-spored asci, α–collatolic acid absence, distribution and/or molecular data, supports N.capensis as an evolutionary independent lineage from the other two saxicolous Neoprotoparmelia species here described.

The analysed material of Neoprotoparmeliacapensis was rich in lichenicolous ascomycetes, some of which make its characterisation confusing. Portions of the studied specimens serve as host to species of Phacographa and Sphaerellothecium similar to those living on taxa of the Protoparmeliabadia complex (Hafellner 2009 and Triebel 1989, respectively), causing visible symptoms. A Phoma–type fungus, with hyaline pycnidia and conidia, frequently infected the hymenium of N.capensis. Moreover, in some adult apothecia of N.capensis, an endohymenial Arthonia species develops its asci, together with those of the host. The latter two taxa lacked visible symptoms on the host. These four lichenicolous fungi are currently under further investigation and the results will be published in a subsequent study.