Polycauliona Pancakeana, a New Species to Science from the Southern Rocky Mountains

. Polycauliona pancakeana is here described as new to science from four specimens collected in the Indian Peaks Wilderness (Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest, Colorado, U.S.A.) during the 2023 summer field season. It is distinct from other entities morphologically by its continuous, granular thallus composed entirely of fine, pale orange-yellow to yellow-green corticate granules on shaded, deeply sheltered granitic rock, its rare, inconspicuous apothecia, narrow spores with a reduced septum, and the presence of chlorinated anthraquinones in the epihymenium. We additionally used molecular data from the nuclear ribosomal ITS region to place the new species in a phylogenetic context. Two accessions of P. pancakeana formed a reciprocally monophyletic and strongly supported clade that is most closely related to other species of Polycauliona including P. phlogina and P. flavogranulosa. The unique morphology in combination with genetic support resulted in our treatment of entity as a new species to science.