Calicium glaucellum

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Calicium glaucellum
Calicium glaucellum 206835030.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Ascomycota
Class: Lecanoromycetes
Order: Caliciales
Family: Caliciaceae
Genus: Calicium
Species:
C. glaucellum
Binomial name
Calicium glaucellum
Ach. (1803)

Calicium glaucellum is a crustose lichen that is found growing on trees throughout much of the world. The species is similar to Calicium abietinum. [1]

Contents

The species is commonly found in northern boreal to temperate zones in North, Central and South America [2] and the South West region of Western Australia. [3]

Morphology

This lichen has a lichenized life habit. Its thallus is typically immersed, but can rarely be superficial and then thin, indistinct, and dark grayish green with a granular appearance. [4]

The apothecia of C. glaucellum usually have a faint white pruina, at least along the edge (upper part) of the exciple and below the capitulum. They are 0.5-1 mm tall and 4-9 times as high as the width of the stalk. [1] [4]

The stalk is shiny black, 0.11-0.17 mm wide, and consists of blackish brown to dark aeruginose, irregularly interwoven and strongly sclerotized hyphae that become paler towards the surface. The outermost layer of the stalk is paler and has a distinct, gelatinous, hyaline coat. [4]

The capitulum is obovoid to lenticular, measuring 0.23-0.34 mm in diameter. The exciple is dark brown to aeruginose, composed of elongated to almost isodiametric sclerotized hyphae that are paler in the outer part and distinctly anticlinally arranged. The hypothecium is dark brown with a flat or slightly convex upper surface. [4]

The asci are cylindrical, 35-41 μm x 3.5-4.5 μm, and contain uniseriate spores. The ascospores are ellipsoid, 9-13 x 4-6.5 μm, with a coarse irregular ornamentation of cracks and ridge fragments. Semi-mature spores have a very irregular sulcate pattern, mainly with longitudinally arranged ridges disrupted by irregular cracks. [4]

Pycnidia are frequently present, producing narrowly cylindrical conidia that are 4-5 x 0.8 μm. [4]

Chemistry

Spot tests show the thallus is K+ dull yellow, C-, KC-, P-, and the apothecia are I-. [4]

The secondary chemistry can vary, with either no detected substances or the presence of sekikaic acid (major), 2-O-methylsekikaic acid (minor), and 4-O-methylhypoprotocetraric acid. [4]

Ecology and distribution

Calicium glaucellum grows on old stumps, standing or fallen wood of both coniferous and deciduous trees, and more rarely on bark. It often occurs in exposed situations. [4]

The species is found in the northern boreal to temperate zones of North, Central, and South America, [2] as well as Australasia. [3] In the Sonoran region, it has been reported from southern California and Chihuahua. [4]

Distinguishing features

Calicium glaucellum is recognized by its rather short-stalked apothecia, the presence of a white rim along the edge of the exciple, the usually immersed thallus, and the medium-sized spores with an ornamentation of irregular ridges and cracks. It is very similar to C. abietinum but differs in having a more pronounced white pruina, black stalks instead of brownish ones, and slightly smaller spores with a different ornamentation pattern. [4]

Related Research Articles

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Tetramelas gariwerdensis is a species of saxicolous (rock-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Physciaceae, described in 2020. It is found in the Grampian Mountains in western Victoria, Australia.

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Caloplaca akbarica, a species of lichen saxicolous (rock-dwelling), crustose lichen described in 2002. Found in Tajikistan, it has a rosette-shaped, lobate thallus, and apothecia that are distinctly pruinose. It was formally described as a new species in 2002 by the lichenologists Imomnazar Kudratov and Oleksandr Khodosovtsev.

Filsoniana ferdinandmuelleri is a species of saxicolous (rock-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Teloschistaceae. It is found in Australia. The lichen has a squamulose (scaly) thallus, with a range of bright yellow to greenish-yellow and brownish-orange colours in its soredia and apothecia, respectively. The areoles of this lichen are varied in size, slightly raised from the thallus surface, and each carries one to four apothecia. The soralia are rounded or irregularly shaped, covering most of the thallus surface as a yellow to greenish-yellow mass. The apothecia have dark brownish-orange discs, surrounded by slightly paler yellow margins, with the spore-bearing asci containing typically eight brownish-golden ascospores.

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References

  1. 1 2 "Calicium abietinum Species Fact Sheet" (PDF). Bureau of Land Management. 31 December 2008. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
  2. 1 2 "Calicium glaucellum Species Fact Sheet". Bureau of Land Management. 31 December 2008. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
  3. 1 2 "Calicium glaucellum". FloraBase . Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Consortium of Lichen Herbaria - Calicium glaucellum". lichenportal.org. Retrieved 14 March 2024.