Phlyctis psoromica

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Phlyctis psoromica
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Ascomycota
Class: Lecanoromycetes
Order: Gyalectales
Family: Phlyctidaceae
Genus: Phlyctis
Species:
P. psoromica
Binomial name
Phlyctis psoromica
Elix & Kantvilas (2011)

Phlyctis psoromica is a species of corticolous (bark-dwelling) crustose lichen in the family Phlyctidaceae. [1] Native to New South Wales, Australia, it was described as new to science in 2011. This lichen is characterised by its whitish to pale blue-grey crustose thallus and distinctive secondary chemistry.

Contents

Taxonomy

Phlyctis psoromica was first scientifically described by Australian lichenologists John Elix and Gintaras Kantvilas. The species is similar to Phlyctis subuncinata , P. sordidae , and P. uncinatae but contains psoromic acid and has smaller ascospores . The type specimen was collected by the first author from the Stockyard Creek Rest Area in Cottan-Bimbang National Park (New South Wales) at an altitude of 685 m (2,247 ft); there, in a wet Eucalyptus forest, it was found growing on Acacia . [2]

Description

The thallus of Phlyctis psoromica is crustose, 40–80  μm thick, and whitish to very pale blue-grey or greenish-grey in colour. It is rimose (cracked), scurfy or furfuraceous (covered in small flakes), and typically forms irregularly spreading patches 3–10 cm (1.2–3.9 in) wide. The lichen lacks isidia and soredia but often becomes ulcerous, eroded and granular near the apothecia. The photobiont is chlorococcoid with more or less spherical cells 6–12 μm wide. [2]

Apothecia are 0.1–0.4 mm wide and usually aggregated in clusters. Ascospores are hyaline, fusiform, and transversely septate, measuring 30–52 μm long and 4–6 μm wide. The lichen's secondary chemistry includes psoromic acid, which is unique to this species among its close relatives. [2]

Similar species

Phlyctis psoromica is morphologically similar to other species of Phlyctis , sharing a whitish, often scurfy thallus, immersed or clustered apothecia, 8-spored asci, and fusiform, transversely septate ascospores. However, it is distinguished from these species by its chemical composition. Related species such as P. subuncinata, P. uncinata, and P. sordida contain different lichen products and have larger ascospores. [2] Phlyctis communis , found in India, also has transversely septate ascospores, but they typically have 7–14 septa and measure 18–33 by 6–9 μm. [3] Another Indian species, Phlyctis monosperma , is chemically similar to P. psoromica but differs in having 1-spored asci with larger, 15-septate ascospores that are 140–150 μm long and 30–40 μm wide. [4]

Habitat and distribution

Phlyctis psoromica is known only from several locations in New South Wales, Australia. It is found on smooth bark of various hosts, such as Doryphora sassafras , Atherosperma moschatum , and species of Elaeocarpus and Pomaderris . The lichen thrives in shaded habitats on the trunks of understory trees in wet upland forests at elevations between 680 and 1,500 m (2,230 and 4,920 ft). [2]

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Pertusaria pseudoparotica is a species of saxicolous (rock-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Pertusariaceae. It is known from a few localities in Greece's Aegean Islands.

Phlyctis lueckingii is a species of corticolous (bark-dwelling) lichen in the family Phlyctidaceae. Found in Sri Lanka, it was formally described as a new species by Gothamie Weerakoon and André Aptroot in 2016. The type was collected on the Dothalugala mountain, where it was found in a rainforest on the smooth bark of a tree. The species epithet honours lichenologist Robert Lücking.

Myeloconis parva is a species of corticolous (bark-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Trichotheliaceae. Found in Amazonian Brazil, it was formally described as a new species in 1996 by Patrick M. McCarthy and John Elix.

Coenogonium australiense is a species of corticolous (bark-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Coenogoniaceae. Found in Australia, it was formally described as a new species in 2018 by lichenologists Gintaras Kantvilas and Robert Lücking. The type specimen was collected by the first author near Little Fisher River (Tasmania) at an altitude of 880 m (2,890 ft), where it was found in a rainforest growing on Nothofagus cunninghamii. The species epithet australiense refers to its geographical distribution. In addition to Tasmania, the lichen has also been documented from New South Wales and Kangaroo Island. In the latter location it was found in remnant stands of coniferous woodland, where it was growing on the bark of old, fissured Callitris trunks.

Pertusaria galapagoensis is a species of corticolous (bark-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Pertusariaceae. Found on the Galápagos Islands, it was formally described as a new species in 2015 by Elix, Yánez-Ayabaca, A.W.Archer & Bungartz. The type specimen was collected on Floreana Island at an altitude of 371 m (1,217 ft), where it was found growing on the bark of a south-exposed trunk of Cedrella odorata. The species epithet refers to its distribution.

Pertusaria albineoides is a species of corticolous (bark-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Pertusariaceae. Found on the Galápagos Islands, it was formally described as a new species in 2015 by Frank Bungartz, A.W.Archer, Alba Yánez-Ayabaca, and John Elix. The type specimen was collected on Alcedo Volcano at an altitude of 1,089 m (3,573 ft), where it was found growing on a partially shaded, rain- and wind-exposed trunk of Scalesia microcephala. The species epithet refers to the similarity to the species Pertusaria albinea, from which it differs by having thin-walled ellipsoid-shaped ascospores that are longer and narrower.

Megalaria hafellneriana is a species of crustose lichen in the family Ramalinaceae. Found in Tasmania, Australia, it was formally described as a new species in 2016 by lichenologist Gintaras Kantvilas. The species epithet honours Austrian lichenologist Josef Hafellner, who circumscribed the genus Megalaria and, according to the author, "undertook some of the pioneering, albeit unpublished research on Australian species".

Byssoloma fuscothallinum is a species of foliicolous (leaf-dwelling) lichen in the family Pilocarpaceae. Found in Colombia and French Guiana, it was formally described as a new species in 2006 by lichenologist Robert Lücking.

Enterographa rotundata is a species of corticolous (bark-dwelling) crustose lichen in the family Roccellaceae. This species was discovered in Brazil, growing on the smooth bark of trees in the Brazilian Caatinga forest. It has round apothecia, a feature that sets it apart from most of its kind.

Phlyctis communis is a species of corticolous (bark-dwelling) crustose lichen in the family Phlyctidaceae. Found in the Maharashtra state of India, it grows on the bark of tree trunks in semi-evergreen to dry deciduous forests. Described as a new species in 2012, the lichen is characterised by its greyish or greenish-white crustose thallus and numerous ascomata, ascospores that have between 7 and 14 transverse septa, and the presence of corstictic and salazinic acids.

Phlyctis monosperma is a species of corticolous (bark-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Phlyctidaceae. It is characterised by its greyish-white, loose, granular thallus, single-spored asci, and distinctive chemical substances. The lichen is found in the subtropical evergreen forests of the Eastern Himalayas and Western Ghats of India, where it grows on rough tree bark in close association with plant-dwelling bryophytes at elevations above 2,000 m (6,600 ft). It also occurs in Sri Lanka.

Phlyctis sirindhorniae is a little-known species of corticolous (bark-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Phlyctidaceae. It shares some similarities with Phlyctis agelaea but can be distinguished by its smaller ascospores, larger apothecia, and a higher number of ascospores per ascus. It is only known to exist in a specific location in northeastern Thailand.

Phlyctis subhimalayensis is a species of corticolous (bark-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Phlyctidaceae. It is found in certain high-elevations regions of the Himalayas and Southwestern China.

References

  1. "Phlyctis psoromica Elix & Kantvilas". Catalogue of Life . Species 2000: Leiden, the Netherlands. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Lumbsch, H.T.; Ahti, T.; Altermann, S.; De Paz, G.A.; Aptroot, A.; Arup, U.; et al. (2011). "One hundred new species of lichenized fungi: a signature of undiscovered global diversity" (PDF). Phytotaxa. 18 (1): 9–11. doi:10.11646/phytotaxa.18.1.1.
  3. Chitale, Gayatri; Makhija, Urmila (2012). "A new species of the lichen genus Phlyctis from Maharashtra, India". Mycotaxon. 120 (1): 75–79. doi: 10.5248/120.75 .
  4. Joshi, Santosh; Upreti, Dalip K.; Nayaka, Sanjeeva (2012). "Two new species in the lichen genus Phlyctis (Phlyctidaceae) from India". The Lichenologist. 44 (3): 363–369. doi:10.1017/s0024282911000879.