Straminella densa (Śliwa & Wetmore) S. Y. Kondr., Lőkös & Farkas
in Kondratyuk & al., Acta Bot. Hung., 61, 1-2: 158, 2019. Basionym: Lecanora varia subsp. densa Śliwa & Wetmore - Bryologist, 103, 3: 486, 2000.
Synonyms: Lecanora densa (Śliwa & Wetmore) Printzen
Distribution:
Description: Thallus crustose, episubstratic, consisting of 0.1-0.4 mm wide, convex areoles, yellowish beige or ochraceous, sometimes with an ash-grey to dark grey prothallus. Apothecia lecanorine, round to irregular in outline, sessile and constricted at base, 0.3-0.6 mm across, with a beige to orange-brown, mostly flat, dull, pruinose disc, and a weakly prominent, homogeneously coloured, persistent thalline margin. Thalline exciple corticate, 60-120 µm thick laterally, 65-130 µm thick near the base, the cortex 5-20 µm thick laterally, 35-65 µm thick near the base, the hyphae with 1.5-2.5 µm wide lumina, the medullary part rich in algae; proper exciple thin, colourless; epithecium ochre-brown to orange-brown, 7-18 µm high, with many small yellow-brown granules soluble in K; hymenium colourless to yellowish, 40-65 µm high; paraphyses simple or sparingly branched and anastomosing, c. 1 µm thick at mid-level, the apical cells 1.5-2 µm wide; hypothecium colourless in upper part, pale yellow in lower part, 40-60 µm high. Asci 8-spored, clavate, Lecanora-type. Ascospores 1-celled, hyaline, ellipsoid, 8-11 x 4-6 µm. Photobiont chlorococcoid. Spot tests: thallus K-, C-, KC- or KC+ pale yellow, P+ bright yellow, UV+ dull orange. Chemistry: usnic, psoromic and 2'-O-demethylpsoromic acids.Note: this species is known from several localities in the Iberian Peninsula, growing on the bark of conifers, mainly Pinus, between 800 and 2500 m; it should be looked for also in Italy, where it could have been confused with L. varia. For further details see Printzen (2001) and Martínez & Aragón (2004).
Growth form: Crustose
Substrata: bark
Photobiont: green algae other than Trentepohlia
Reproductive strategy: mainly sexual
Predictive model
CC BY 4.0 - Source: Ivanovich-Hichins C, Weber L, Li L, et al. New phylogenetic insights into the lichen genus Lecanora s. lat. (Lecanoraceae, Ascomycota): resurrection of the genera Glaucomaria, Straminella and Zeora. The Lichenologist. 2025;57(6):278-303. doi:10.1017/S0024282925101321
S. densa; USA, Arizona, S. Pérez-Ortega (FR-0212649). - Scale bar: 0.5 mm
Curtis Randall Björk – CC BY-SA 4.0
Washington State, Spokane County, near Rosalia Date: 2009-07-09 Photographed from specimen (Björk 19110, UBC) on twigs of Pinus ponderosa in savanna
Growth form: Crustose
Substrata: bark
Photobiont: green algae other than Trentepohlia
Reproductive strategy: mainly sexual
Predictive model
CC BY 4.0 - Source: Ivanovich-Hichins C, Weber L, Li L, et al. New phylogenetic insights into the lichen genus Lecanora s. lat. (Lecanoraceae, Ascomycota): resurrection of the genera Glaucomaria, Straminella and Zeora. The Lichenologist. 2025;57(6):278-303. doi:10.1017/S0024282925101321
S. densa; USA, Arizona, S. Pérez-Ortega (FR-0212649). - Scale bar: 0.5 mm
