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Fuscidea multispora

Fuscidea multispora is a species of foliicolous (leaf-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Fuscideaceae. Found in Bolivia, it is known to occur only in a single high-altitude locality in a national park, where it grows on the leaves of coniferous trees from the genus Podocarpus.

Taxonomy

The lichen was formally described as a new species in 2019 by Adam Flakus, Martin Kukwa, and Pamela Rodriguez-Flakus. The type specimen was collected from Carrasco National Park (Cochabamba Department) at an altitude of ; here, it was found by the first author growing on the leaves of a Podocarpus tree. It is only known to occur at the type locality, which is Andean forest dominated by Podocarpus and Polylepis trees.

Description

The lichen has a greyish-green to brownish thallus with a verruculose surface texture (as if covered with tiny warts); it reaches a diameter of . The prothallus is black. Apothecia are dark brown to black with a round outline, measuring 0.2–0.6 mm in diameter; they have a matte, dark brown to black that is flat to somewhat concave. The (the apothecial margin) is the same color as the disk, and measures 40–80 ÃŽÂ¼m wide. The ascospores typically have dimensions in the range 7–8.5 by 3.5–4.5 ÃŽÂ¼m. Fuscidea multispora contains sekikaic acid, which is a lichen product that can be detected using thin-layer chromatography. The species epithet multispora makes reference to the multispored asci, which hold 16 ascospores.

References