Fissurina submonospora is a species of corticolous (bark-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Graphidaceae.[1] Described in 2012 from specimens collected in India's Western Ghats, this lichen forms brownish-grey to dark brown crusts on tree bark in moist evergreen forests. It produces large single ascospores divided into brick-like compartments within each reproductive cell, a feature that distinguishes it from most related species which typically contain eight smaller spores.
Fissurina submonospora is a script lichen in the family Graphidaceae. It was described as new to science in 2012 by Bharati Sharma, Pradnya Khadilkar and Urmila Makhija, who designated a holotype collected on 24 January 1983 from Upper Kodayar, Tamil Nadu. The authors placed the species in Fissurina section dumastii because of its immersed, fissure-like fruit bodies ( lirellae ) and single-spored asci. They noted that it resembles F.monospora but differs in having markedly smaller ascospores and lacking lichen substances in the thallus.[2]
Description
The thallus (lichen body) forms a brownish-grey to dark-brown crust that cracks and becomes wart-like with age; a dark line ( hypothallus ) marks its edge. Its lirellae – the narrow, slit-shaped fruiting bodies typical of script lichens – are short (0.5–1.0mm), straight or slightly branched, and sit flush with the surface. Each lirella is lined by an exciple (the rim) that is orange-brown but not carbonised (i.e., it lacks the black, soot-like strengthening layer seen in some relatives).[2]
Inside, the colourless hymenium (spore-producing layer) is 125–150micrometres (μm) tall. Every ascus contains a single, very large ascospore (70–100μm long, occasionally to 130μm) that is muriform—divided by many cross-walls into brick-like chambers—and surrounded by a gelatinous halo up to 10μm thick. No secondary metabolites were detected in spot tests or thin-layer chromatography.[2]
Habitat and distribution
The species is known only from the Western Ghats of southern India. Verified collections come from Upper Kodayar (Tamil Nadu), several evergreen-forest localities in Kerala (Silent Valley, Cardamom Hills) and hill forests of Karnataka (Anmod Ghat, Jog Falls, Sringeri-Balehonnur). It grows on the bark of living trees in moist evergreen forest, a habitat characterised by heavy monsoon rainfall and persistent shade.[2]
1 2 3 4 Sharma, B.O.; Khadilkar, P.; Makhija, U. (2012). "New species and new combinations in the lichen genera Fissurina and Hemithecium from India". The Lichenologist. 44 (3): 339–362. doi:10.1017/S0024282911000752.
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