Gymnographopsis
| Gymnographopsis | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Ascomycota |
| Class: | Lecanoromycetes |
| Order: | Graphidales |
| Family: | Redonographaceae |
| Genus: | C.W.Dodge (1967) |
| Type species | |
| Gymnographopsis chilena C.W.Dodge (1967)
| |
| Species | |
|
G. cerei | |
Gymnographopsis is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Graphidaceae.[1] It was circumscribed by American lichenologist Carroll William Dodge in 1967, with Gymnographopsis chilena assigned as the type species.[2] These lichens form dull grey-olive to yellow-brown crusts on tree bark and are characterized by straight to weakly curved fruiting bodies whose sides appear brown-black and whose openings expose disc-like surfaces. The genus has a pantropical distribution, growing on shaded tree trunks and lower branches in evergreen forests, where their intolerance of heavy disturbance makes them useful indicators of long-standing, moist woodland habitats.
Description
Gymnographopsis forms a dull grey-olive to yellow-brown crust (thallus) that lacks a true cortex and is often dusted with minute beige crystals. The ascomata are straight to weakly curved lirellae (0.2–1.5 mm long) whose lips soon open to expose the disc; their flanks may appear brown-black but are only partly carbonised. A light brown excipulum overhangs the clear hymenium, which is free of inspersion and lined with short, smooth periphysoids. The Graphis-type asci usually contain eight hyaline ascospores that become conspicuously muriform—divided by numerous transverse and a few longitudinal septa—yet remain iodine-negative (I–); spore sizes in most species fall between 20 × 7 μm and 40 × 12 μm, though extremes occur. Chemistry is modest: norstictic acid is frequent, with stictic-series depsidones or no detectable metabolites in other taxa.[3]
The genus is set apart from superficially similar script lichens by the coexistence of partly carbonised lirellae, smooth periphysoids, an inspersion-free hymenium and small, I– muriform spores. In Carbacanthographis the excipulum is completely carbonised; Acanthothecis and Anomomorpha have spiny (spinulose) or iodine-positive elements; and Gyphis has significantly larger spores. A diagnostic additional feature in several species, such as G. corticicola, is a rectangular perispore that folds at the poles when mounted in potassium hydroxide.[4]
Ecology
Gymnographopsis is pantropical, ranging from the lowland Amazon basin and West-Central African rainforests to Indochina, New Guinea and north-eastern Australia. All known species are corticolous, occupying shaded trunks and lower branches in evergreen forests; their intolerance of heavy disturbance makes them handy indicators of long-standing, moist woodland.[3]
Work in Mexico's seasonally dry forests uncovered the corticolous G. corticicola, the first Northern-Hemisphere record for the genus and its smallest-spored member (about 12 × 5 μm). Molecular data place the taxon within subfamily Redonographoideae and suggest further undiscovered diversity across Mesoamerica.[4]
Species
- Gymnographopsis cerei Follmann (1968)[5]
- Gymnographopsis chilena C.W.Dodge (1967)[2]
- Gymnographopsis corticicola R.Miranda, Herrera-Camp. & Lücking (2020)[4]
- Gymnographopsis follmannii C.W.Dodge (1967)[2]
- Gymnographopsis koreaiensis (Sipman) Lücking & Sipman (2021)
- Gymnographopsis latispora Egea & Torrente (1996)[6]
References
- ^ Lücking, Robert; Hodkinson, Brendan P.; Leavitt, Steven D. (2017). "The 2016 classification of lichenized fungi in the Ascomycota and Basidiomycota–Approaching one thousand genera". The Bryologist. 119 (4): 361–416. doi:10.1639/0007-2745-119.4.361.
- ^ a b c Dodge, C.W. (1966). "New lichens from Chile". Nova Hedwigia. 12: 307–352.
- ^ a b Lücking, Robert; Rivas Plata, Eimy (2008). "Clave y guía ilustrada para géneros de Graphidaceae" [Key and illustrated guide to genera of Graphidaceae]. GLALIA (in Spanish). 1 (1): 1–39.
- ^ a b c Miranda-González, Ricardo; Lücking, Robert; Barcenas-Peña, Alejandrina; Ángeles Herrera-Campos, María de los (2020). "The new genus Jocatoa (Lecanoromycetes: Graphidaceae) and new insights into subfamily Redonographoideae". The Bryologist. 123 (2): 127–143. doi:10.1639/0007-2745-123.2.127.
- ^ Follmann, G. (1967). "Die Flechtenflora der nordchilenischen Nebeloase Cerro Moreno" [The lichen flora of the northern Chilean fog oasis Cerro Moreno]. Nova Hedwigia (in German). 14: 213–281.
- ^ Egea, J.M.; Torrente, P. (1996). "Tres nuevas especies de hongos liquenizados de la Provincia del Cabo (Sudáfrica)" [The lichen flora of the northern Chilean fog oasis Cerro Moreno]. Cryptogamie Bryologie Lichénologie (in Spanish). 17 (4): 295–312.