Biology:Cora caraana
| Cora caraana | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Basidiomycota |
| Class: | Agaricomycetes |
| Order: | Agaricales |
| Family: | Hygrophoraceae |
| Genus: | Cora |
| Species: | C. caraana
|
| Binomial name | |
| Cora caraana Lücking, S.M.Martins & Lucheta (2016)
| |
Cora caraana is a rare species of basidiolichen in the family Hygrophoraceae. It was formally described as a new species in 2016 by Robert Lücking, Suzana Maria de Azevedo Martins, and Fabiane Lucheta. The specific epithet caraana refers to the type locality in Caraá (Rio Grande do Sul). It is only known to occur at this location, where it grows as an epiphyte on tree branches in mountainous rainforests. It forms rosettes up to 7 cm across with blue-green [[Glossary of lichen terms#{{biology:{1}}}|{{Biology:{1}}}]] that have smooth surfaces and light grey rolled-in edges, producing cream-colored reproductive patches arranged in faint concentric arcs on the underside.
Taxonomy
Cora caraana is a basidiolichen in the family Hygrophoraceae (order Agaricales).[1] It was described in 2016 by Robert Lücking, Josy Martins, and Fernanda Lucheta from a specimen collected in the Caraá Environmental Protection Area (Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil). The epithet, caraana, refers to this type locality. Internal transcribed spacer DNA sequence data place the species in a clade that also contains C. verjonensis (Colombia) and C. viliewoa (Costa Rica), clearly apart from the morphologically similar Bolivian species C. boleslia.[2]
Description
The thallus of Cora caraana is epiphytic and foliose, forming rosettes up to 7 cm across on shaded branches clothed with hepatic mats. It comprises five to ten semicircular [[Glossary of lichen terms#{{biology:{1}}}|{{Biology:{1}}}]], 0.5–1.5 cm wide and 0.5–1 cm long, separated by short, indistinct radial sutures. Fresh lobes are bluish-green (aeruginous) with a smooth, [[Glossary of lichen terms#{{biology:{1}}}|{{Biology:{1}}}]] surface and thin, rolled-in ([[Glossary of lichen terms#{{biology:{1}}}|{{Biology:{1}}}]]) light-grey margins; herbarium material turns grey. The lower surface lacks a [[Glossary of lichen terms#{{biology:{1}}}|{{Biology:{1}}}]] ([[Glossary of lichen terms#{{biology:{1}}}|{{Biology:{1}}}]]) and shows a felty-arachnoid medulla that is green-grey when fresh and bluish-grey when dry.[2]
Sections are 150–200 micrometres thick. A compact upper cortex 10–20 μm deep overlies a 40–50 μm zone of anticlinal hyphae; both layers consist of 4–5 μm-wide hyphae. The [[Glossary of lichen terms#{{biology:{1}}}|{{Biology:{1}}}]] is 50–100 μm thick and deep aeruginous; the medulla, 30–50 μm, is hydrophobic and bears scattered [[Glossary of lichen terms#{{biology:{1}}}|{{Biology:{1}}}]]-to-[[Glossary of lichen terms#{{biology:{1}}}|{{Biology:{1}}}]] hyphae 2–3 μm wide. Clamp connections are absent.[2]
The hymenophore (the fertile spore-bearing surface) is [[Glossary of lichen terms#{{biology:{1}}}|{{Biology:{1}}}]]-[[Glossary of lichen terms#{{biology:{1}}}|{{Biology:{1}}}]], forming cream-coloured, concave patches 1–2 mm long and 1–5 mm broad that align in faint concentric arcs beneath the lobes. Sections (40–70 μm) reveal abundant [[Glossary of lichen terms#{{biology:{1}}}|{{Biology:{1}}}]]-like basidioles (20–30 × 5–6 μm) and scarce four-spored basidia (20–35 × 4–6 μm); basidiospores have not been recorded. Thin-layer chromatography detected no secondary metabolites.[2]
Habitat and distribution
As of its original publication, Cora caraana was known to occur only at its type locality (roughly 410 m elevation) in the southernmost outliers of the tropical montane Atlantic Forest of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. It grows epiphytically on shaded tree branches, partly overgrowing liverworts, in a humid, evergreen rainforest microclimate characterised by high rainfall, diffuse light, and frequent mist.[2]
References
- ↑ "Cora caraana Lücking, S.M. Martins & Lucheta". Species 2000: Leiden, the Netherlands. https://www.catalogueoflife.org/data/taxon/Y96R.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Lücking, Robert; Forno, Manuela Dal; Moncada, Bibiana; Coca, Luis Fernando; Vargas-Mendoza, Leidy Yasmín; Aptroot, André et al. (2016). "Turbo-taxonomy to assemble a megadiverse lichen genus: seventy new species of Cora (Basidiomycota: Agaricales: Hygrophoraceae), honouring David Leslie Hawksworth's seventieth birthday". Fungal Diversity 84 (1): 139–207. doi:10.1007/s13225-016-0374-9.
Wikidata ☰ Q107589584 entry
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