ITALIC 8.0

Aspicilia spermatomanes (Nyl.) Maheu & Gillet

Lichens de l'est de la Corse; 51, 1926.. Basionym: Lecanora cinerea var. spermatomanes Nyl. - Bull. Soc. linn. Normandie, sér. 2, 6 : 256-328, 1873.

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Distribution:

Description: Thallus crustose, episubstratic, 0.4-1.9 mm thick, whitish grey to dark grey, areolate to glebulose-areolate, the areoles usually subdivided by thin fissures into flat to convex, obtuse isidioid papillae, delimited by a dark grey to black prothalline line. Cortex paraplectenchymatous, overlain by a variably thick or discontinuous epinecral layer, the upper part brown (Subdepressa-brown pigment, K-, disappearing in N); algal layer 50-150 μm thick, interrupted by columnal aggregations of hyphae; medulla white, dense, 0.3-1.9 mm thick, filled by crystals insoluble in K and in N. Apothecia lecanorine-aspicilioid, round to irregular in outline, 0.2-1.2 mm across, immersed in the areoles (1-5 per areole), with a more or less flat, blackish, pruinose or epruinose disc, and a slightly raised thalline margin, sometimes with a darker annular zone. Epithecium brown, N+ greenish to emerald green (Caesiocinerea-green pigment), with minute crystals visible under polarized light, which are insoluble in N and soluble in K; hymenium colourless, 100-150 μm high; paraphyses 1.5-2 μm thick at base, non moniliform or moniliform in upper part, the apical cells 2.5-5 μm wide; hypothecium colourless; subhypothecial medulla rich in crystals, with glomerules of algae. Asci 8-spored, clavate, the thin outer coat K/I+ blue, the wall and apical dome K/I-, Lecanora-type. Ascospores 1-celled, hyaline, ellipsoid, 17-28 x 11-17(-20) μm. Pycnidia black, immersed, with a colourless wall. Conidia thread-like, straight or slightly curved, (10-)14.5-23(-25) x 1-1.5 μm. Photobiont chlorococcoid. Spot tests: cortex and medulla K+ yellow turning red (needle-like crystals), C-, KC-, P+ orange-yellow. Chemistry: norstictic acid, upper part of cortex with the Subdepressa-brown pigment, epithecium with the Caesiocinerea-green pigment.

Note: a silicicolous species described from the Pyrenees and recently re-evaluated, whose distribution is insufficiently known: there are many records from the French Alps, but the species is likely to be widespread throughout the Alps, including the Italian Alps, having often being confused with other species, especially A. cinerea. For further details see Bertrand & Roux (2013).

Growth form: Crustose

Substrata: rocks

Photobiont: green algae other than Trentepohlia

Reproductive strategy: mainly sexual

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Altitudinal distribution:

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Predictive model

Index Fungorum GBIF

M. Bertrand. Source: Bertrand M., Roux C. 2013. Aspicilia spermatomanes (Nyl.) Maheu et Gillet en Corse. Bull. Ass. fr. lichénologie, 38, 1: 87-98.