ITALIC 8.0

Rufoplaca griseomarginata Vondrák & S. Svoboda

in Vondrák & al., Preslia, 94: 168, 2022.

Synonyms:

Distribution:

Description: Thallus crustose, episubstratic, rimose-areolate, up to 100 μm thick, pale to dark grey, initially lichenicolous on Rinodina oxydata, later forming independent, up to 1 cm wide patches. Apothecia 0.1-0.3 mm across, usually immersed in the thallus or adnate, finally sometimes slightly raised above the thallus surface, with an orange disc, the proper exciple orange and K+ purple-red in the part adjacent to disc, but grey and K+ violet (Sedifolia-grey pigment) in outer part; thalline exciple present but thin or indistinct. Epithecium orange, K+ purple-red; hymenium and hypothecium colourless. Asci 8-spored, clavate, functionally unitunicate, apically thickened with a broad internal beak, the inner part of apex and external cap I+ blue, Teloschistes-type. Ascospores 2-celled, polarilocular, hyaline, ellipsoid, 11-14 x 4.5-6.5 μm, the equatorial thickening (“septum”) short, 2.5-3 μm. Photobiont chlorococcoid. Spot tests: thallus K- or K+ faintly violet, C-, KC-, P-; apothecial disc K+ purple-red. Chemistry: thallus and proper exciple with the Sedifolia grey pigment; epithecium with parietin and 2 unidentified non-chlorinated anthraquinones.

Note: a recently-described species of base-rich siliceous outcrops and stones in rather humid but sunny situations at low elevations, which starts the life-cycle on Rinodina oxydata, later becoming autonomous. It is hitherto known from the Czech Republic, Greece, Turkey and Iran (Vondrák & al. 2022). To be looked for in Italy.

Growth form: Crustose

Substrata: rocks

Photobiont: green algae other than Trentepohlia

Reproductive strategy: mainly sexual

Subcontinental: restricted to areas with a dry-subcontinental climate (e.g. dry Alpine valleys, parts of Mediterranean Italy)

pH of the substrata:

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Solar irradiation:

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Aridity:

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Eutrophication:

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Poleotolerance:

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Altitudinal distribution:

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Predictive model

Source: Vondrák J., Svoboda S., Malíček J., Palice Z., Kocourková J., Knudsen K., Mayrhofer H., Thus H., Schultz M., Košnar J., Hofmeister J. 2022. From Cinderella to Princess: an exceptional hotspot of lichen diversity in a long-inhabited central-European landscape. Preslia, 94: 143-181.

Czech Republic - holotype