ITALIC 8.0

Vezdaea rheocarpa Poelt & Döbbeler

Lichenologist, 9: 170, 1977

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Description: Thallus crustose, inconspicuous, dark green, more or less gelatinous when moist, entirely consisting of 18-40 μm wide goniocysts with (1-)4-10(-15) μm long, pointed conical spines, which are best developed on exposed, superficial goniocysts. Apothecia short-lived, without a proper margin, white to pale brown, translucent when wet, irregular in outline, most often 0.2-0.35 mm across, the surface appearing minutely verrucose from the protruding ascus tips. Proper exciple absent; hymenium lacking gelatine, consisting of rather sparse and short, branched and anastomosing paraphyses not entwining individual asci and never reaching the height of mature asci. Asci 8-spored, cylindrical, thick-walled, with a thick I+ blue apex (except for an apical pore). Ascospores 1-celled, hyaline, ellipsoid, (18-)20-24(-27) x 8-11(-12) μm, the wall warted in old spores. Photobiont chlorococcoid (Leptosira). Spot tests: all negative. Chemistry: without lichen substances.

Note: on bryophytes, other lichens and plant debris, sometimes on siliceous rocks and even lignum, mostly in deciduous forests, widespread in the Northern Hemisphere but rarely collected, probably due to its minute size and the ephemeral apothecia, with scattered records from the Alps. To be looked for in Italy.

Growth form: Crustose

Substrata: lignum, rocks, soil, terricolous mosses, and plant debris

Photobiont: green algae other than Trentepohlia

Reproductive strategy: mainly sexual

Pioneer species

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Predictive model

Index Fungorum GBIF

Photo uploaded by Paul Cannon – CC BY NC Source: https://fungi.myspecies.info/all-fungi/vezdaea-rheocarpa

Devon, UK

Paul Cannon CC BY NC – Source - https://fungi.myspecies.info/file-colorboxed/19858