Astrochapsa sipmanii

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Astrochapsa sipmanii
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Ascomycota
Class: Lecanoromycetes
Order: Ostropales
Family: Graphidaceae
Genus: Astrochapsa
Species:
A. sipmanii
Binomial name
Astrochapsa sipmanii

Astrochapsa sipmanii is a little-known species of corticolous (bark-dwelling) lichen in the family Graphidaceae. It is found in Singapore.

Contents

Taxonomy

The lichen was formally described as a new species in 2015 by Gothamie Weerakoon and Robert Lücking. The type specimen was collected by the first author from the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve at an elevation of 147 m (482 ft). It is only known to occur at the type locality. The species epithet sipmanii honours Dutch lichenologist Harrie Sipman, "for his contributions to our knowledge of Singapore lichens". [1]

Description

The lichen has a thin, olive-brown thallus up to 10 cm (4 in) in diameter, and lacks a distinct medulla. The apothecia are more or less rounded to irregular, measuring 0.4–0.7 mm in diameter. The exposed disc is grey, and covered with a thick granular pruina. Ascospores number eight per ascus; they have between 3 and 5 septa and measure 12–15 by 3–4  μm. Analysis of the lichen using chemical analyses (thin-layer chromatography and high-performance thin-layer chromatography) did not reveal the presence of any lichen products. Astrochapsa astroidea , the type species of genus Astrochapsa , is somewhat similar in appearance to A. sipmanii, but that species has neither an olive-brown thallus nor the thick apothecial pruina. [1]

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Astrothelium pseudoferrugineum is a species of corticolous (bark-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Trypetheliaceae. Found in Indonesia, it was formally described as a new species in 2016 by Dutch lichenologist André Aptroot. The type specimen was collected in 1937 by Pieter Groenhart on Jombang (Java); there, it was found in a disturbed rainforest growing on smooth tree bark. The lichen has a smooth and somewhat shiny to glossy, bright orange thallus with a cortex but without a prothallus. The orange crust is about 0.1 mm thick and covers areas of up to 3 cm (1.2 in) in diameter. The use of thin-layer chromatography shows the lichen contains an orange anthraquinone, possibly parietin. The main characteristics of the lichen that distinguish it from others in Astrothelium are its immersed to erumpent, whitish pseudostromata. It is named for its similarity to Astrothelium ferrugineum, from which it differs in its glossier thallus and larger ascospores.

Astrothelium pseudomegalophthalmum is a species of corticolous (bark-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Trypetheliaceae. Found in Colombia, it was formally described as a new species in 2016 by Dutch lichenologist André Aptroot. The type specimen was collected from Araracuara at an altitude of 300 m (980 ft); there, in a savanna forest, it was found growing on smooth tree bark. The lichen has a smooth and somewhat shiny, pale olive-green thallus with a cortex and a thin black prothallus line. The lichen thallus covers areas of up to 7 cm (2.8 in) in diameter, and its presence does not induce the formation of galls in the host plant. No lichen products were detected in collected samples using thin-layer chromatography. The characteristics of the lichen that distinguish it from others in Astrothelium are its solitary to irregularly confluent ascomata, which are erumpent with an exposed upper part. Its ascospores have seven septa and measure 152–166 by 32–37 μm. Its namesake species, A. megalophthalmum, also has large spores with seven septa.

Polymeridium rhodopruinosum is a species of corticolous (bark-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Trypetheliaceae. Found in Puerto Rico, it was formally described as a new species in 2016 by Dutch lichenologist André Aptroot. The type specimen was collected by the author from Vereda Los Viveros in the Maricao State Forest (Maricao) at an altitude of 850 m (2,790 ft); there, it was found in a sclerophyllous forest growing on tree bark. The lichen has a white thallus lacking a cortex. The only lichen product detected from collected specimens using thin-layer chromatography was an anthraquinone compound. The combination of characteristics of the lichen that distinguish it from others in Polymeridium are the ascomata with external, red pruina that turn dark blood red with a K+ spot test; and the dimensions of its ascospores.

References

  1. 1 2 Weerakoon, Gothamie; Ngo, Kang Min; Lum, Shawn; Lumbsch, H. Thorsten; Lücking, Robert (2015). "On time or fashionably late for lichen discoveries in Singapore? Seven new species and nineteen new records of Graphidaceae from the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, a highly urbanized tropical environment in South-East Asia". The Lichenologist. 47 (3): 157–166. doi:10.1017/s0024282915000043. S2CID   89905602.