Lithothelium phaeosporum (R.C. Harris) Aptroot
Bibl. Lichenol., 44: 65, 1991. Basionym: Plagiocarpa phaeospora R.C. Harris - Michigan Bot., 12, 1: 36, 1973.
Synonyms:
Distribution:
Description: Thallus crustose, poorly evident, perhaps not lichenized. Perithecia black, immersed, 0.5-0.6(-0.8) mm across, the ostiole often eccentric, projecting, conical-pointed, usually forming a neck which may be up to 0.6 mm long. Involucrellum entire, brown, containing bark cells, 50-100 µm thick in upper part, thinner in lower part; exciple brownish, poorly developed; hymenium I+ blue-green turning orange, inspersed with numerous oil droplets; paraphyses mostly simple, 1-2 µm thick, periphyses absent. Asci 8-spored, subcylindrical, apically thickened, the inner wall indentation cross-shaped in optical section, 125-150 x 25-35 µm. Ascospores 3-distoseptate, not constricted at septa, reddish brown, fusiform, (24-)30-40(-45) x (9.5-)12-16(-18) µm, the median cells largest and with rounded lumina, the terminal cells much smaller, especially in mature spores. Photobiont probably absent or trentepohlioid. Spot tests: thallus K-, C-, KC-, P-, UV-. Chemistry: without lichen substances.
Note: an apparently rare, perhaps non-lichenized species described from North America, known from Scotland and Austria (Aptroot & Berger 1994), mostly growing at the base of trunks of shaded, old deciduous trees with rough and superficially decaying bark. To be looked for in Italy.
Growth form: Crustose
Substrata: bark
Photobiont: Trentepohlia
Reproductive strategy: mainly sexual
Most common in areas with a humid-warm climate (e.g. most of Tyrrenian Italy)

Predictive model


Felix Schumm - CC BY-SA 4.0
[Berger6844], Austria, Mühlviertel, Rannatal, 340 m, auf Ulmus glabra unter der Ruine Falkenstein. Leg. F. Berger (no 6844), 03.10.1993, det. A. Aptroot.


Felix Schumm - CC BY-SA 4.0
[Berger6844], Austria, Mühlviertel, Rannatal, 340 m, auf Ulmus glabra unter der Ruine Falkenstein. Leg. F. Berger (no 6844), 03.10.1993, det. A. Aptroot.


Felix Schumm - CC BY-SA 4.0
[Berger6844], Austria, Mühlviertel, Rannatal, 340 m, auf Ulmus glabra unter der Ruine Falkenstein. Leg. F. Berger (no 6844), 03.10.1993, det. A. Aptroot.


Felix Schumm - CC BY-SA 4.0
[Berger6844], Austria, Mühlviertel, Rannatal, 340 m, auf Ulmus glabra unter der Ruine Falkenstein. Leg. F. Berger (no 6844), 03.10.1993, det. A. Aptroot.


Felix Schumm - CC BY-SA 4.0
[Berger6844], Austria, Mühlviertel, Rannatal, 340 m, auf Ulmus glabra unter der Ruine Falkenstein. Leg. F. Berger (no 6844), 03.10.1993, det. A. Aptroot.


Felix Schumm - CC BY-SA 4.0
[Berger6844], Austria, Mühlviertel, Rannatal, 340 m, auf Ulmus glabra unter der Ruine Falkenstein. Leg. F. Berger (no 6844), 03.10.1993, det. A. Aptroot.


Felix Schumm - CC BY-SA 4.0
[Berger6844], Austria, Mühlviertel, Rannatal, 340 m, auf Ulmus glabra unter der Ruine Falkenstein. Leg. F. Berger (no 6844), 03.10.1993, det. A. Aptroot.


Felix Schumm - CC BY-SA 4.0
[Berger6844], Austria, Mühlviertel, Rannatal, 340 m, auf Ulmus glabra unter der Ruine Falkenstein. Leg. F. Berger (no 6844), 03.10.1993, det. A. Aptroot.


Felix Schumm - CC BY-SA 4.0
[Berger6844], Austria, Mühlviertel, Rannatal, 340 m, auf Ulmus glabra unter der Ruine Falkenstein. Leg. F. Berger (no 6844), 03.10.1993, det. A. Aptroot.


Felix Schumm - CC BY-SA 4.0
[Berger6844], Austria, Mühlviertel, Rannatal, 340 m, auf Ulmus glabra unter der Ruine Falkenstein. Leg. F. Berger (no 6844), 03.10.1993, det. A. Aptroot.

