| Lepraria harrisiana | |
|---|---|
 | |
| in Delmarva Peninsula, Maryland | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Ascomycota |
| Class: | Lecanoromycetes |
| Order: | Lecanorales |
| Family: | Stereocaulaceae |
| Genus: | Lepraria |
| Species: | L. harrisiana |
| Binomial name | |
| Lepraria harrisiana Lendemer (2012) | |
Lepraria harrisiana is a species of leprose lichen in the family Stereocaulaceae. It is widespread in the eastern United States where it occurs in humid habitats, such as conifer swamps and riparian forests.
It was formally described as a new species by lichenologist James Lendemer in 2012. The type specimen was collected by Lendemer in Dismal Swamp State Park, North Carolina, where it was found growing on the bark of Chamaecyparis . The specific epithet honors lichenologist Richard C. Harris, among the first modern scientists to study the genus Lepraria . [1]
Using molecular phylogenetics, Lendemer was able to show that there were two distinct species being called Lepraria caesiella , a species originally described by Harris. Both of the cryptic species are chemically identical (i.e., they produce the same set of secondary compounds sometimes used to distinguish lichens), but they differ ecologically, and rarely occur in the same geographic area. Two distinct morphotypes occur that correlate to the two clades recovered in phylogenetic analysis. Lepraria harrisiana refers to the population with placodioid thalli (i.e., crustose in the center and lobed at the periphery), while L. caesiella has aggregate thalli. [1]
Lepraria harrisiana has a greenish-blue (accruing a yellowish hue after drying in the herbarium), crustose and leprose thallus. The granules comprising the thallus are more or less spherical, typically measuring from 27 to 48 μm in diameter. Secondary chemicals produced by Lepraria harrisiana include atranorin, zeorin, and pallidic acid. The expected results of standard spot tests are K+ (yellow), C−, KC−, P+ (weak yellow), UV−. [1]
The lichen is widespread in the eastern United States where it occurs in humid habitats, such as conifer swamps and riparian forests. Its distribution extends from Massachusetts to Georgia, westward to at least Alabama, and the lichen also occurs in disjunct populations at high elevations of the southern Appalachian Mountains, riparian conifer forests along the edges of the Ozarks and the Ouachita Mountains, the oceanic forests of the Canadian Maritimes, and conifer swamps of the Great Lakes Region. [1]
The Cladoniaceae are a family of lichenized fungi in the order Lecanorales. It is one of the largest families of lichen-forming fungi, with about 560 species distributed amongst 17 genera. The reindeer moss and cup lichens (Cladonia) belong to this family. The latter genus, which comprises about 500 species, forms a major part of the diet of large mammals in taiga and tundra ecosystems. Many Cladoniaceae lichens grow on soil, but other can use decaying wood, tree trunks, and, in a few instances, rocks as their substrate. They grow in places with high humidity, and cannot tolerate aridity.
The Arthoniales is the second largest order of mainly crustose lichens, but fruticose lichens are present as well. The order contains around 1500 species, while the largest order with lichenized fungi, the Lecanorales, contains more than 14000 species.
The Baeomycetales are an order of mostly lichen-forming fungi in the subclass Ostropomycetidae, in the class Lecanoromycetes. It contains 8 families, 33 genera and about 170 species. As a result of molecular phylogenetics research published in the late 2010s, several orders were folded into the Baeomycetales, resulting in a substantial increase in the number of taxa.
Psilolechia is a genus of four species of crustose lichens. It is the only member of Psilolechiaceae, a family that was created in 2014 to contain this genus.
Cetrelia is a genus of leafy lichens in the large family Parmeliaceae. They are commonly known as sea-storm lichens, alluding to the wavy appearance of their lobes. The name of the genus, circumscribed in 1968 by the husband and wife lichenologists William and Chicita Culberson, alludes to the former placement of these species in the genera Cetraria and Parmelia.
Lepraria is a genus of leprose crustose lichens that grows on its substrate like patches of granular, caked up, mealy dust grains. Members of the genus are commonly called dust lichens. The main vegetative body (thallus) is made of patches of soredia. There are no known mechanisms for sexual reproduction, yet members of the genus continue to speciate. Some species can form marginal lobes and appear squamulose. Because of the morphological simplicity of the thallus and the absence of sexual structures, the composition of lichen products are important characters to distinguish between similar species in Lepraria.
Crustose lichens are lichens that form a crust which strongly adheres to the substrate, making separation from the substrate impossible without destruction. The basic structure of crustose lichens consists of a cortex layer, an algal layer, and a medulla. The upper cortex layer is differentiated and is usually pigmented. The algal layer lies beneath the cortex. The medulla fastens the lichen to the substrate and is made up of fungal hyphae. The surface of crustose lichens is characterized by branching cracks that periodically close in response to climatic variations such as alternate wetting and drying regimes.
Lichens are symbiotic organisms made up of multiple species: a fungus, one or more photobionts and sometimes a yeast. They are regularly grouped by their external appearance – a characteristic known as their growth form. This form, which is based on the appearance of vegetative part of the lichen, varies depending on the species and the environmental conditions it faces. Lichenologists have described a dozen of these forms: areolate, byssoid, calicioid, cladoniform, crustose, filamentous, foliose, fruticose, gelatinous, leprose, placoidioid and squamulose. Traditionally, crustose (flat), foliose (leafy) and fruticose (shrubby) are considered to be the three main forms. In addition to these more formalised, traditional growth types, there are a handful of informal types named for their resemblance to the lichens of specific genera. These include alectorioid, catapyrenioid, cetrarioid, hypogymnioid, parmelioid and usneoid.
Lepraria pacifica, the Pacific dust lichen, is a whitish-blue-green leprose crustose lichen that grows on its substrate like patches of granular, caked-up, mealy dust grains. Like other members of the Lepraria genus, it only reproduces asexually.
Japewiella dollypartoniana is a species of crustose lichen in the family Lecanoraceae. It is widely distributed in the Appalachian Mountains of eastern North America, and has also been reported from Ontario, Canada. The lichen grows on tree branches and sapling and shrub stems at middle to high elevations.
Leprocaulaceae is a family of mostly lichen-forming fungi. It is the single family in the monotypic order Leprocaulales. Leprocaulaceae contains three genera and about 33 species.
Lepraria incana is a species of dust lichen in the family Stereocaulaceae. First described scientifically by Johann Jacob Dillenius in 1741, and then formally by Carl Linnaeus in 1753, it is the type species of the genus Lepraria. The thallus of this species is green to greyish-green, and powdery – as if made of tiny granules. These granules are soredia, which are asexual reproductive structures. Like most members of genus Lepraria, the lichen has few distinguishing features, lacking both a medulla and sexual reproductive structures (apothecia). Chemically, the lichen is characterised by the presence of the secondary chemicals known as divaricatic acid and zeorin.
Parmelia barrenoae is a species of foliose lichen in the large family Parmeliaceae. It was formally described as a new species in 2005. Before this, it was lumped together as one of several lichens in the Parmelia sulcata group—a species complex of genetically distinct lookalikes. Parmelia barrenoae is widely distributed, occurring in Europe, western North America, Africa, and Asia.
Lepraria salazinica is a species of rock-dwelling, leprose lichen in the family Stereocaulaceae. It is found in the eastern United States.
Ochrolechia africana, commonly known as the frosty saucer lichen, is a species of crustose and corticolous (bark-dwelling) lichen in the family Ochrolechiaceae. It is a widely distributed species, found in tropical and subtropical areas of southern Africa, Asia, Australia, North America, and South America. The lichen is characterized by the presence of a white "frosty" or powdery apothecia.
Lepraria santosii is a species of crustose lichen in the family Stereocaulaceae. It occurs in Tenerife, in the Canary Islands.
Inoderma sorediatum is a species of crustose lichen in the family Arthoniaceae. It is only known to occur on the bark of trees in Poland's Białowieża National Park. It is differentiated from other species in genus Inoderma by the form of its thallus, which is entirely made of powdery, granular soredia, as well as by the presence of a unique combination of lichen products.
Lepraria granulata is a species of crustose and leprose lichen in the family Stereocaulaceae. It is found in mountainous locations of Eastern and Central Europe, where it usually grows over moss.
Andreiomyces is the sole genus in Andreiomycetaceae, a family in the order Arthoniales. Andreiomyces contains two lichen-forming fungi, both of which were previously classified in the genus Lepraria.
Botryolepraria is a genus of saxicolous (rock-dwelling), byssoid (cottony) lichens of uncertain familial placement in the order Verrucariales. It has two species. Both species grow in damp conditions, such as on cave walls, particularly in areas with minimal light.