Biology:Malmidea perplexa
| Malmidea perplexa | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Ascomycota |
| Class: | Lecanoromycetes |
| Order: | Lecanorales |
| Family: | Malmideaceae |
| Genus: | Malmidea |
| Species: | M. perplexa
|
| Binomial name | |
| Malmidea perplexa Kalb (2011)
| |
Malmidea perplexa is a corticolous (bark-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Malmideaceae.[1] It was described in 2011 from northern Thailand. The species has a smooth, grey-green thallus without warts and ascospores that are non-septate and [[Glossary of lichen terms#{{biology:{1}}}|{{Biology:{1}}}]]. It resembles Malmidea leptoloma but differs in having lighter-coloured apothecial discs and margins and a smooth thallus.
Taxonomy
The species was introduced as Malmidea perplexa by Klaus Kalb in 2011 within a study on Malmidea and the family Malmideaceae. The holotype was collected on the descent from Doi Mon Larn to Mae Kampong village, east-south-east of Chiang Mai, in evergreen montane forest dominated by Lithocarpus, Quercus and Castanopsis; the specific epithet reflects that the senior author had known the species from Brazil for decades before finding it in Thailand again.[2]
Description
The thallus is crust-like, continuous and smooth, about 100–250 μm thick, dull to slightly shiny and grey-green; soredia and isidia are absent. The medulla is whitish and K–. The [[Glossary of lichen terms#{{biology:{1}}}|{{Biology:{1}}}]] is [[Glossary of lichen terms#{{biology:{1}}}|{{Biology:{1}}}]] with cells 6–8 μm in diameter. Apothecia are [[Glossary of lichen terms#{{biology:{1}}}|{{Biology:{1}}}]], rounded, 0.4–0.7 mm across and 150–180 μm high; the [[Glossary of lichen terms#{{biology:{1}}}|{{Biology:{1}}}]] is plane to slightly convex and brown-grey to sooty, bordered by a thin [[Glossary of lichen terms#{{biology:{1}}}|{{Biology:{1}}}]] margin of the piperis type that is about 20 μm thick, slightly prominent and whitish-grey to dark brownish-grey. The [[Glossary of lichen terms#{{biology:{1}}}|{{Biology:{1}}}]] is hyaline and internally lacks the medullary layer (about 30–70 μm wide) and lacks hydrophobic granules; the [[Glossary of lichen terms#{{biology:{1}}}|{{Biology:{1}}}]] is about 20 μm high and light brown, the hymenium 75–120 μm and hyaline, and the [[Glossary of lichen terms#{{biology:{1}}}|{{Biology:{1}}}]] 30–80 μm and hyaline, K–; the [[Glossary of lichen terms#{{biology:{1}}}|{{Biology:{1}}}]] is indistinct. Asci measure 50–65 × 10–15 μm. Ascospores number 6–8 per ascus, are colourless, ellipsoid, non-septate and [[Glossary of lichen terms#{{biology:{1}}}|{{Biology:{1}}}]], 9–13 × 5–7 μm with an about 0.5-μm [[Glossary of lichen terms#{{biology:{1}}}|{{Biology:{1}}}]]. No lichen substances were detected by thin-layer chromatography or high-performance liquid chromatography.[2]
Habitat and distribution
The species grows on tree bark in evergreen forests in Thailand (including sites in Chiang Mai and Khao Yai and the Kaeng Krachan area) and is also recorded from south-eastern Brazil (São Paulo), at roughly 520–1000 m elevation.[2]
References
- ↑ "Malmidea perplexa Kalb". Species 2000: Leiden, the Netherlands. https://www.catalogueoflife.org/data/taxon/3XQ8W.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Kalb, Klaus; Rivas Plata, Eimy; Lücking, Robert; Lumbsch, H. Thorsten (2011). "The phylogenetic position of Malmidea, a new genus for the Lecidea piperis- and Lecanora granifera-groups (Lecanorales, Malmideaceae), inferred from nuclear and mitochondrial ribosomal DNA sequences, with special reference to Thai species". A Lichenological Legacy – Festschrift Thomas H. Nash III. Bibliotheca Lichenologica. 106. Stuttgart: J. Cramer in der Gebråder Borntraeger Verlagsbuchhandlung. pp. 143–168. ISBN 978-3-443-58085-8. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/284543336.
Wikidata ☰ Q21326243 entry
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