Pyrenula maritima is a species of corticolous (bark-dwelling) crustose lichen in the family Pyrenulaceae.[1] The species forms smooth pale olive to yellowish-brown patches on twigs and small branches, with fruiting bodies that are either immersed in the thallus or form slightly raised black hemispheres. It is known from coastal shrubland in the arid zone of central Chile, where it grows in sites regularly affected by fog from the Pacific Ocean.
This lichen forms smooth, pale olive to yellowish‑brown patches on twigs and small branches. The thallus may be several centimeters across and about 50–100μm thick, often breaking into a mosaic of small individuals bordered by thin black lines. It penetrates the outer bark and is covered by a 10–25μm thick outer layer. The perithecia are immersed in the thallus or form slightly raised, poorly defined warts about 0.5mm wide; sometimes they become exposed as small black hemispheres. Each perithecium has a carbonized wall 25–75μm thick and an apical or subapical black pore. The hamathecium is usually clear; the supporting filaments are about 1μm wide and unbranched. The asci measure roughly 110μm by 12μm and contain eight ascospores in a single row. The spores have three cross‑walls and are 15–25μm long and 6–10μm wide, pale gray‑brown in color. Their internal cavities ( lumina ) are lens‑shaped and there is a thickened inner wall at the ends; in very young spores the apical thickening develops before the cross‑walls (septa) form. Asexual pycnidia may appear along the margin as low black warts about 150μm wide, producing curved conidia about 25μm long and 0.5μm wide.[2]
Habitat and distribution
This species occurs in coastal shrubland in the arid zone of central Chile, in sites that are regularly affected by fog from the Pacific Ocean.[2]
123Aptroot, André; Sipman, Harrie J.M.; Cáceres, Marcela Eugenia da Silva (2013). "Twenty-one new species of Pyrenula from South America, with a note on over-mature ascospores". The Lichenologist. 45 (2): 169–198 [180]. doi:10.1017/S0024282912000734.
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