ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Graphidaceae from Sabah (NE Borneo), including eight new species
1
The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW75BD,
United Kingdom
2
University Malaysia Sabah, Institute for Tropical Biology and Conservation,
Jalan UMS, 88400, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
3
Stuttgart State Museum of Natural History, Botany Department, Rosenstein
1, 70191 Stuttgart, Germany
4
Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum Berlin, Freie Universität
Berlin, Königin-Luise-Straße 6–8, 14195 Berlin, Germany
Submission date: 2026-06-10
Acceptance date: 2026-07-14
Online publication date: 2026-07-31
Publication date: 2026-07-31
Plant and Fungal Systematics 2026; 71(1): 205-222
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
Graphidaceae is one of the largest families of lichenized fungi, with over 2,300
species in 80 genera known and about 3,600 species predicted. The Eastern Paleotropics constitute
one of the hotspots of Graphidaceae diversity, including many potentially unknown
species awaiting discovery. The Malaysian state of Sabah in NE-Borneo is home to some
of the oldest continuously forested areas in SE-Asia, but only a few recent studies sampled
Graphidaceae, particularly in the remaining pockets of lowland Dipterocarp forests. As
part of two larger field trips in 2012 and 2013, hundreds of specimens of mostly epiphytic
Graphidaceae were collected. The identification of 115 collections thus far has resulted
in 52 species, all of which represent new records for this region, including eight species
new to science in eight different genera (Allographa, Astrochapsa, Byssotrema, Diorygma,
Melanotrema, Ocellularia, Platythecium, Sarcographa), as well as new records for the
Eastern Paleotropics, Malaysia, and Borneo. Most of the new species were found in old
growth forests, and very few in selectively logged forests, highlighting the importance of
effective conservation by strict protection of the remnants of unlogged stands for the highly
threatened lowland Dipterocarp forests in SE-Asia.
FUNDING
The various visits of GW
to The Field Museum in Chicago and to the BGBM in Berlin,
as well as of RL to the NHM in London, during which the
material was studied, were financially supported by the DiSSCo
SYNTHESYS+ project and by two grants from the NHM Special
Funds (Project Code FSO22001).
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