Lecanora polytropa

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Lecanora polytropa
Lecanora polytropa - Flickr - pellaea (4).jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Ascomycota
Class: Lecanoromycetes
Order: Lecanorales
Family: Lecanoraceae
Genus: Lecanora
Species:
L. polytropa
Binomial name
Lecanora polytropa
(Ehrh.) Rabenh. (1845)
Synonyms
  • Verrucaria polytropaEhrh. (1796)

Lecanora polytropa, the granite-speck rim lichen, is a species of saxicolous (rock-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Lecanoraceae. A small, inconspicuous species that grows in the cracks of rock surfaces, it has a cosmopolitan distribution and has been recorded on all continents, including Antarctica.

Contents

Taxonomy

It was originally described by German botanist Jakob Friedrich Ehrhart in 1796 as a species of Verrucaria . He wrote of the lichen "flavo-virens scutellis undique conspersa plano-convexis e dilute carneo flavescentibus. In saxis montosis" ('with yellow-green shields scattered everywhere, flat-convex, becoming yellowish from pale flesh-colored. On mountain rocks.') [1] Gottlob Ludwig Rabenhorst transferred the taxon to the genus Lecanora in 1845. [2]

A vernacular name for the species is the "granite-speck rim lichen". [3]

Recent genetic research has revealed that Lecanora polytropa likely represents one of the largest species complexes known among lichen-forming fungi. A 2022 study by Zhang and colleagues using DNA sequencing and phylogenomic analysis found that what has traditionally been considered a single species actually comprises up to 75 distinct candidate species. The researchers sampled over 300 specimens from populations worldwide and used multiple genetic markers, including the fungal DNA barcode (internal transcribed spacer region). Their results suggest that L. polytropa, in the broad sense, harbours extensive cryptic diversity, with most candidate species having limited geographic distributions. This finding highlights the need for a thorough taxonomic revision of the L. polytropa complex using integrative approaches combining genetic, morphological, and ecological data to fully characterise its true biodiversity. [4]

Description

Closeup of apothecia on rock surface; scale bar is 0.5 mm Lecanora polytropa - Flickr - pellaea (3).jpg
Closeup of apothecia on rock surface; scale bar is 0.5 mm

Lecanora polytropa has a scanty thallus, which sometimes resembles tiny pale yellowish areoles. The tiny, flat apothecia typically measure 0.3–0.9 mm in diameter and may be scattered or clustered together. They have a waxy texture and are yellow to pale orange, lacking pruina. The margins of the apothecia are smooth, not prominent, and tend to be lighter in colour than the central disc. Ascospores are ellipsoid and measure 8–15 by 5–7  μm. [3]

Habitat and distribution

Lecanora polytropa grows on siliceous rock, particularly granite. It prefers locations with full sun exposure. It is common on exposed granite boulders and outcrops throughout its range, although it may readily be missed due to its small size. [3] The lichen has a cosmopolitan distribution, and is known from all continents. [5] It is found in the maritime and continental Antarctic, including the Antarctic Peninsula, Queen Mary Land, and Victoria Land. [6]

In a study of the community structure of saxicolous lichens found on rock faces within a 4 kilometres (2.5 miles) radius of the Mount Tokachi volcano in Japan, researchers found that Lecanora polytropa thrived in the volcanic environment (close to the active fumarole) that was intolerable for many other species. Its tiny thalli can insert into the small depressions and cracks on the rock, helping it gain a foothold and begin surface colonisation even when faced with the weathering associated with high winds and storms. [7] Lecanora polytropa is also involved in the succession of lichens that appear on gravestones, and tends to maintain its presence long after its initial colonisation. [8] Lecanora polytropa was one of three lichens found growing at an altitude of 7,400 m (24,300 ft) in Makalu (Nepal)–the highest recorded elevation for lichen. [9]

Species interactions

Lecanora polytropa is a known host to the lichenicolous fungus species Carbonea aggregantula , [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] Carbonea supersparsa , [15] [11] [14] Carbonea vitellinaria , [13] Cercidospora epipolytropa , [12] [13] Endococcus propinquus , [16] Lichenoconium lecanorae , [12] [13] Muellerella erratica , [12] [13] Muellerella lichenicola , [10] Muellerella pygmaea var. athallina [16] and Stigmidium squamariae . [13] Two additional species of Arthonia infecting this lichen, A. epipolytropa and A. subclemens , were described in 2023. [17]

Similar species

Lecanora polytropa may be confused with L. fuscobrunnea , which has larger apothecia (up to 1.6 mm wide) that are partially blackened to completely black, and may have a rudimentary stipe. In L. polytropa, the apothecia are always sessile and not blackened. [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Candelariella</i> Genus of lichens

Candelariella is a genus of bright yellow, ocher, or greenish yellow crustose or squamulose lichens in the family Candelariaceae. Members of the genus are commonly called eggyolk lichens, goldspeck lichens, or yolk lichens. The genus was circumscribed in 1894 by Swiss lichenologist Johannes Müller Argoviensis, with Candelariella vitellina assigned as the type species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lecideaceae</span> Family of lichen-forming fungi

The Lecideaceae are a family of lichen-forming fungi in the order Lecideales. It contains about 30 genera and roughly 250 species. A major distinguishing characteristic of the family is the lecanoroid form of the fruiting bodies: typically circular, dark, and without a thalline margin. Most species in the family are lichenised with green algae, although a few species, scattered amongst several genera, are lichenicolous—they live on other lichens. Lecideaceae lichens tend to grow on rocks, wood, and soil. Several Lecideaceae species accelerate the weathering of rock surfaces, a process known as pedogenesis, by extending their hyphae into cracks and expelling rock flakes. This contributes to significantly faster weathering rates in certain environments, impacts various materials from natural rocks to man-made Sekishu roof tiles, and involves key biomolecules identified for survival and biodeterioration, including compounds to withstand intense ultraviolet radiation.

Lecanora printzenii is a species of crustose lichen in the family Lecanoraceae. Originally found in Spain, it was described as new to science in 2011. It shares several characteristics with lichens of the Lecanora varia group but is differentiated by its unique sequence in the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of its DNA and by several distinctive physical characteristics.

<i>Lecidea atrobrunnea</i> Species of lichen

Lecidea atrobrunnea is a group of lichen-forming fungi in the family Lecideaceae. Previously though to represent a single, widely distributed crustose lichen, recent research has shown that the name represents many unique lineages of morphologically and chemically variable lichen-forming fungi that have not yet been precisely characterized. Members of this group are most diverse in mountains of the continental western United States and Alaska. With other lichen communities, it forms dark vertical drip-like stripings along drainage tracks in the rock faces, resulting in Native Americans giving the name "Face of a Young Woman Stained with Tears" to Half Dome. This combined lichen community appears black from a distance, but brown up close.

<i>Lecanora muralis</i> Species of lichen

Lecanora muralis(Protoparmeliopsis muralis) is a waxy looking, pale yellowish green crustose lichen that usually grows in rosettes radiating from a center (placodioid) filled with disc-like yellowish-tan fruiting bodies (apothecia). It grows all over the world. It is extremely variable in its characteristics as a single taxon, and may represent a complex of species. The fruiting body parts have rims of tissue similar to that of the main nonfruiting body (thallus), which is called being lecanorine. It is paler and greener than L. mellea, and more yellow than L. sierrae. In California, it may be the most common member of the Lecanora genus found growing on rocks (saxicolous).

<i>Candelariella vitellina</i> Species of lichen

Candelariella vitellina is a common and widespread green-yellow to orange-yellow crustose areolate lichen that grows on rock, wood, and bark, all over the world. It grows on non-calcareous rock, wood, and bark.

<i>Lecanora rupicola</i> Species of lichen

Lecanora rupicola is a species of crustose lichen in the family Lecanoraceae. It is a known host species to the lichenicolous fungus Arthonia glaucomaria.

<i>Stereocaulon paschale</i> Species of lichen

Stereocaulon paschale is a species of lichen belonging to the family Stereocaulaceae.

Carbonea supersparsa is a species of lichenicolous fungus belonging to the family Lecanoraceae. It is widespread in the Northern Hemisphere. In Iceland it has been reported growing on Lecanora cenisia near Egilsstaðir and Lecanora polytropa near Seyðisfjörður.

<i>Muellerella pygmaea</i> Species of fungus

Muellerella pygmaea is a species of lichenicolous fungus in the family Verrucariaceae. It has a cosmopolitan distribution in Arctic-alpine areas and grows on the thallus and apothecia of a number of hosts.

Phacopsis australis is a species of lichenicolous (lichen-dwelling) fungus in the family Parmeliaceae. It is found in a few locations in South Africa, where it grows on the thalli of several species of the leafy lichen genus Xanthoparmelia. Unlike other members of genus Phacopsis, the fungus does not induce the formation of galls in its host.

Lecanora lojkahugoi is a species of saxicolous (rock-dwelling) crustose lichen in the family Lecanoraceae. It is found in the Russian Far East and in South Korea.

Phoma candelariellae is a species of lichenicolous (lichen-eating) fungus in the family Didymellaceae. It is found in the Central Anatolia Region of Turkey and in Ukraine, where it grows parasitically on the apothecia of the saxicolous (rock-dwelling) lichen Candelariella aurella.

<i>Pulvinora</i> Genus of lichens

Pulvinora is a small genus of saxicolous (rock-dwelling), crustose lichens in the family Lecanoraceae. It has two species. The genus was circumscribed in 2021 by Evgeny Davydov and Lidia Yakovchenko to contain two species formerly in the Lecanora pringlei species group. The type species of the genus, P. stereothallina, occurs in the Altai Mountains (Russia), while P. pringlei is found in North America.

<i>Physcia aipolia</i> Species of lichen

Physcia aipolia, commonly known as the Hoary rosette lichen, is a lichen species of fungus in the genus Physcia, and family Lecanoromycetes. Physcia aipolia is a species of lichen in the family Physciaceae. It has a worldwide distribution.Physcia aipolia is a known host species to the lichenicolous fungus species Muellerella lichenicola. It is characterized by the pale blue to gray thallus with many apothecia. Physcia aipolia is a common, widely distributed species, and can be found growing on a variety of trees and branches.

Carbonea aggregantula is a species of lichenicolous (lichen-dwelling) fungus belonging to the family Lecanoraceae.

<i>Polycauliona bolacina</i> Species of lichen

Polycauliona bolacina, the waxy firedot lichen, is a species of saxicolous (rock-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Teloschistaceae. It is found in western North America.

<i>Glaucomaria carpinea</i> Species of lichen

Glaucomaria carpinea is a species of corticolous (bark-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Lecanoraceae. It is a widely distributed species.

<i>Arthonia radiata</i> Species of lichen

Arthonia radiata, the asterisk lichen, is a common and widepspread species of corticolous (bark-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Arthoniaceae.

References

  1. ↑ Hoffmann, Georg Franz (1796). "Deutschlands Flora oder botanisches Taschenbuch. Zweyter Theil für das Jahr 1795". Cryptogamie (in Latin): 196.
  2. ↑ Rabenhorst, Ludwig (1845). Deutschlands Kryptogamenflora (in German). Vol. 2. E. Kummer. p. 37.
  3. 1 2 3 Brodo, Irwin M.; Sharnoff, Sylvia Duran; Sharnoff, Stephen (2001). Lichens of North America. Yale University Press. p. 387. ISBN   978-0300082494.
  4. ↑ Zhang, Yanyun; Clancy, Jeffrey; Jensen, Jacob; McMullin, Richard Troy; Wang, Lisong; Leavitt, Steven D. (2022). "Providing scale to a known taxonomic unknown—at least a 70-fold increase in species diversity in a cosmopolitan nominal taxon of lichen-forming fungi". Journal of Fungi. 8 (5): 490. doi: 10.3390/jof8050490 . PMC   9146994 .
  5. ↑ Nash, T.H.; Ryan, B.D.; Gries, C.; Bungartz, F. (2004). Lichen Flora of the Greater Sonoran Desert Region. Vol. 2. ISBN   978-0-9716759-1-9.
  6. 1 2 Smykla, Jerzy; Krzewicka, Beata; Wilk, Karina; Emslie, Steven D.; Śliwa, Lucyna (2011). "Additions to the lichen flora of Victoria Land, Antarctica" (PDF). Polish Polar Research. 32 (2): 123–138. doi: 10.2478/v10183-011-0009-5 .
  7. ↑ Shimizu, Akira (1994). "Community structure of lichens in the volcanic highlands of Mt. Tokachi, Hokkaido, Japan". Bryologist. 107 (2): 141–151. doi:10.1639/0007-2745(2004)107[0141:CSOLIT]2.0.CO;2. JSTOR   3244838.
  8. ↑ Hill, David Jackson (1994). "The succession of lichens on gravestones: a preliminary investigation". Cryptogamic Botany. 4: 179–186.
  9. ↑ Scheidigger, Christoph (2021). "2.4. High alpine lichens". In Büdel, Burkhard; Friedl, Thomas (eds.). Life at Rock Surfaces: Challenged by Extreme Light, Temperature and Hydration Fluctuations. Life in Extreme Environments. Vol. 6. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. p. 163. doi:10.1515/9783110646467-006. ISBN   978-3-11-064646-7.
  10. 1 2 Alstrup, Vagn; Hansen, Eric Steen; Daniels, Fred J. A. (2000). "Lichenized, lichenicolous and other fungi from North and North-East Greenland". Folia Cryptogamica Estonica. 37: 1–20.
  11. 1 2 Diederich, Paul (2003). "New species and new records of American lichenicolous fungi". Herzogia. 16: 41–90.
  12. 1 2 3 4 Kukwa, Martin; Flakus, Adam (2009). "New or interesting records of lichenicolous fungi from Poland VII. Species mainly from Tatra Mountains" (PDF). Herzogia. 22: 191–211.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Zhurbenko, Mikhail (2009). "Lichenicolous fungi and lichens from the Holarctic. Part II". Opuscula Philolichenum. 7: 121–186.
  14. 1 2 Pirogov, M.; Chepelevska, N.; Vondrák, J. (2014). "Carbonea in Ukraine". Biologichni Studii. 8 (1): 137–148. doi: 10.30970/sbi.0801.317 .
  15. ↑ Orange, Alan (1990). "New or interesting lichens and Iichenicolous fungi from Iceland" (PDF). Acta Botanica Islandica . 10: 37–44.
  16. 1 2 Helgi Hallgrímsson & Guðríður Gyða Eyjólfsdóttir (2004). Íslenskt sveppatal I - smásveppir [Checklist of Icelandic Fungi I - Microfungi. Fjölrit Náttúrufræðistofnunar. Náttúrufræðistofnun Íslands [Icelandic Institute of Natural History]. ISSN 1027-832X
  17. ↑ Hafellner, Josef; Grube, Martin (2023). "Arthonia epipolytropa and Arthonia subclemens, two new lichenicolous species on Lecanora polytropa, with a key to the microfungi known on this common species". The Lichenologist. 55 (5): 241–251. doi: 10.1017/S0024282923000397 .
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