Megalospora

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Megalospora
Megalospora porphyritis - Flickr - pellaea (1).jpg
Megalospora porphyritis on red maple
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Ascomycota
Class: Lecanoromycetes
Order: Teloschistales
Family: Megalosporaceae
Genus: Megalospora
Meyen (1843)
Type species
Megalospora sulphurata
Meyen (1843)
Synonyms [1]

Megalospora is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Megalosporaceae. [2]

Contents

Taxonomy

The genus was circumscribed in 1843 by Prussian botanist Franz Meyen, with Megalospora sulphurata assigned as the type, and at that time, only species. The genus was then largely defined on the basis of the structure of the apothecia. [3]

In 2012, Gintaras Kantvilas and H. Thorsten Lumbsch synonymized the genus Austroblastenia (which contained two species) with Megalospora, based on both morphology and molecular phylogeny. [4]

Description

Megalospora is characterised by its large, bicellar ascospores. Other features include the crustose thallus, the lecideine apothecia, and the presence of oil droplets in the hymenium. [5] The photobiont partner is a member of the green algal genus Dictyochloropsis . Megalospora species are usually distinguished based on the type of ascospore, thallus chemistry, and the presence or absence of reproductive propagules such as isidia and soralia. [4]

Species

As of December 2021, Species Fungorum accepts 22 species of Megalospora. [6]

Related Research Articles

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<i>Schaereria</i> Genus of lichen

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Schizotrema is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Graphidaceae. The genus was circumscribed in 2009 by Armin Mangold and H. Thorsten Lumbsch.

Megalospora occidentalis is a species of corticolous (bark-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Megalosporaceae. Found in Australia, it was formally described as a new species in 1994 by lichenologist Gintaras Kantvilas. The type specimen was collected along the Vasse Highway in Beedelup National Park at an altitude of 100 m (330 ft); here, in a karri-dominated wet sclerophyll forest, it was found growing on Trymalium floribundum. The lichen has a thin, pale grey to glaucous-grey thallus that usually has scattered soredia. Its ascospores are oblong to ellipsoid in shape, measuring 50–90 by 20–30 μm. They are muriform, meaning they are divided into many internal cells, up to about 22 by 10. The species contains the lichen products pannarin and zeorin. The author named it occidentalis because, at the time of writing, it was the only Western Australian species known in genus Megalospora.

Pseudochapsa is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Graphidaceae. It has 19 species. It was circumscribed in 2012 by Sittiporn Parnmen, Robert Lücking, and Helge Thorsten Lumbsch, with Pseudochapsa dilatata as the type species. Pseudochapsa differs from Chapsa it that its excipulum is typically brown. Additionally, its ascospores are mostly discoseptate and amyloid. The generic name combines the Greek pseudo ("false") with the genus name Chapsa.

Myriochapsa is a genus of corticolous (bark-dwelling), crustose lichens in the subfamily Graphidoidae of the family Graphidaceae. It has three species. The genus was circumscribed in 2013 by Marcela Cáceres, Robert Lücking, and H. Thorsten Lumbsch, with the Brazilian Myriochapsa psoromica assigned as the type species. The generic name combines Myriotrema and Chapsa, referring to the two Graphidaceae genera that it resembles. The main distinguishing characteristics of the new genus are its densely corticate thallus, and the presence of the lichen product psoromic acid. Additionally, its apothecia have wider pores, with differently textured margins. Although originally created as a monotypic genus, Harrie Sipman added two South American species in 2014.

Cameronia is a genus of crustose lichens in the monotypic family Cameroniaceae. It has two species. Both the genus and its two species were described as new to science in 2011 by Australian lichenologist Gintaras Kantvilas. Characteristics of the genus include its chlorococcalean photobiont partner, and perithecioid ascomata that are deeply immersed in the substrate. Microscopic features of Cameronia include the four-spored asci with an intensely hemiamyloid outer wall and non-amyloid, well-developed tholus, and hyaline, muriform ascospores. Both species are endemic to the Tasmanian Highlands.

Clandestinotrema is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Graphidaceae. It has 17 species. They typically inhabit montane and cloud forest at higher elevations in the tropics.

Gintarasia is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Graphidaceae. It has seven species, all of which are found in Australia. Gintarasia species are corticolous (bark-dwelling), crustose lichens with a thelotremoid form.

Megalospora austropacifica is a species of corticolous (bark-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Megalosporaceae. It is found on the islands of Taveuni and Viti Levu in Fiji. It has a yellowish grey to whitish grey, glossy thallus that is thick and may appear slightly wrinkled or smooth, often with irregular cracks and small papillae containing conidiomata, but lacking isidia and soredia. Its apothecia are circular, up to 4.5 mm in diameter, with the disc evolving from concave to slightly convex and coloured from orange-brown to red-brown, surrounded by a thick, prominent margin.

References

  1. "Synonymy: Megalospora Meyen, in Meyen & Flotow, Nova Acta Phys.-Med. Acad. Caes. Leop.-Carol. Nat. Cur., Suppl. 1 19: 228 (1843)". Species Fungorum . Retrieved 25 December 2021.
  2. Wijayawardene, Nalin; Hyde, Kevin; Al-Ani, Laith Khalil Tawfeeq; Somayeh, Dolatabadi; Stadler, Marc; Haelewaters, Danny; et al. (2020). "Outline of Fungi and fungus-like taxa". Mycosphere. 11: 1060–1456. doi: 10.5943/mycosphere/11/1/8 . hdl: 10481/61998 .
  3. Meyen, J.; Flotow, J. (1843). "Observationes Botanicas in itinere circum terram institutas (1830–1832): Lichenes". Nova Acta Academiae Caesareae Leopoldino-Carolinae Germanicae Naturae Curiosorum (in Latin). 19 (Suppl. 1): 209–232.
  4. 1 2 Kantvilas, Gintaras; Lumbsch, H. Thorsten (2012). "Reappraisal of the genera of Megalosporaceae (Teloschistales, Ascomycota)". Australian Systematic Botany. 25 (3): 210–216. doi:10.1071/SB11040. S2CID   84245560.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Untari, Ludmilla Fitri (2006). "The lichen genus Megalospora in Java". Mycotaxon. 97: 129–143.
  6. Source dataset. Species Fungorum Plus: Species Fungorum for CoL+. "Megalospora". Catalog of Life Version 2021-12-18. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
  7. 1 2 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". Phytotaxa. Magnolia Press. 18 (1): 83. doi: 10.11646/phytotaxa.18.1.1 . hdl: 11336/4198 .
  8. 1 2 Lücking, R. (2007). "Megalospora imshaugii sp. nov. and M. caraibica sp. nov. from Jamaica (Ascomycota: Teloschistales: Megalosporaceae) increase the number of American Megalospora species to ten". Fungal Diversity. 27: 103–110.
  9. Kantvilas, Gintaras (2018). "A new species of Megalospora Meyen (lichenised Ascomycetes) from Tasmania". Cryptogam Biodiversity and Assessment (1): 6–10. doi: 10.21756/cab.esp2 .
  10. Sipman, H. (1986). "Additional notes on the lichen family Megalosporaceae". Willdenowia. 15: 557–564.
  11. 1 2 Sipman, H.J.M. (1983). A Monograph of the Lichen Family Megalosporaceae. Bibliotheca Lichenologica. Vol. 18. Strauss & Kramer GmbH. pp. 1–241. ISBN   978-3-7682-1354-7.
  12. 1 2 Kantvilas, Gintaras (1994). "Additions to the family Megalosporaceae in Tasmania and mainland Australia". The Lichenologist. 26 (4): 349–366. doi:10.1006/lich.1994.1029. S2CID   84768080.