Hydropunctaria maura (Wahlenb.) C. Keller, Gueidan & Thüs

Taxon, 58: 194, 2009. Basionym: Verrucaria maura Wahlenb. in Ach. - Meth. Lich.: 19, 1803.
Synonyms: Verrucaria haeyrenii Erichsen; Verrucaria malmei Servít; Verrucaria scotina Wedd.; Verrucaria trachinodes Norman; Verrucaria zschackeana Erichsen
Distribution: N - Lig (Watson 2014, Giordani & al. 2016). C - Tosc, Sar (Rizzi & al. 2011, Neuwirth 2018).
Description: Thallus crustose, episubstratic, greenish to brownish black, subgelatinous when wet, 60-300 μm thick, continuous only in marginal parts, otherwise rimose-areolate, sometimes delimited by a narrow, whitish to pale brown prothallus, several thalli often merging to cover large surfaces. Areoles 0.1-0.6 mm broad when sterile, 0.3-0.6 mm broad when fertile, slightly concave to slightly convex, mostly flat, with dark sides, smooth or usually with slightly raised punctiform warts or short ridges; older areoles sometimes partly subdivided by dark lines. Cortex scarcely differentiated, with a brown pigment, K-, sometimes with a pale epinecral layer; photobiont cells arranged in vertical rows; medulla often colourless in lower part, dark brown to dark reddish brown in upper parts, with pillars of dark brown to black tissue often reaching the thallus surface. Perithecia black, largely immersed to moderately projecting, conical-hemispherical, 0.2-0.45 μm wide, with a crater-like ostiole. Involucrellum reaching the dark basal layer; exciple dark throughout; hamathecium of periphyses and periphysoids, interascal filaments absent; hymenial gel hemiamyloid, I+ red (I+ blue at very low concentrations of I), K/I+ blue. Asci 8-spored, clavate, I-, fissitunicate, the wall thickened above, with an ocular chamber, dehiscent by extrusion of an endotunica to form a delicate rostrum, Verrucaria-type. Ascospores 1-celled, hyaline, oblong-ellipsoid, 14.5-19 x 7-9 μm. Pycnidia immersed, with colourless wall and ostiole. Conidia bacilliform, 4-6.6 x 1.2-1.6 μm. Photobiont chlorococcoid. Spot tests: thallus and medulla K-, C-, KC-, P-, UV-. Chemistry: without lichen substances.
Note: this heterogeneous maritime species is most common along the Atlantic coasts, becoming very rare in the Mediterranean area, where it seems to be confined to siliceous substrata in the supralittoral belt; Italian records need confirmation. The recent records from Tuscany by Pasquinelli & al. (2009), and Pasquinelli & Puccini (2010), judging from the pictures, most probably refer to Verrucaria nigrescens.
Growth form: Crustose
Substrata: rocks
Photobiont: green algae other than Trentepohlia
Reproductive strategy: mainly sexual
Periodically submerged (e.g. in creeks)
Taxon bound to maritime-coastal situations

Commonnes-rarity: (info)

Alpine belt: absent
Subalpine belt: absent
Oromediterranean belt: absent
Montane belt: absent
Submediterranean belt: absent
Padanian area: absent
Humid submediterranean belt: absent
Humid mediterranean belt: rare
Dry mediterranean belt: rare

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
Herbarium samples


P.L. Nimis CC BY-SA 4.0
TSB 12175



P.L. Nimis; Owner: Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste
Herbarium: TSB (28825)
2003/03/17


Andres Saag; Owner: University of Tartu


Alain Gerault - Source: http://www.lichensmaritimes.org/index.php?task=fiche&lichen=1089&lang=en
France, Le Passage
sequenced specimen



Curtis Randall Björk, - CC BY-SA 4.0
Coastal British Columbia, Canada
13.11.2018


Alain Gerault - Source: http://www.lichensmaritimes.org/index.php?task=fiche&lichen=1089&lang=en
France, Le Passage
sequenced specimen


Alain Gerault - Source: http://www.lichensmaritimes.org/index.php?task=fiche&lichen=1089&lang=en
France, Le Passage
sequenced specimen



P.L. Nimis CC BY-SA 4.0
TSB 41194



P.L. Nimis; Owner: Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste
Herbarium: TSB (12175)
2001/12/03


Courtesy Danièle et Olivier Gonnet - Source: https://www.afl-lichenologie.fr/Photos_AFL/Photos_AFL_H/Texte_H2/Hydropunctaria_maura.htm
France, Herqueville, anse des Moulinets, alt. 15 m - Manche
15/05/2016


Courtesy Danièle et Olivier Gonnet - Source: https://www.afl-lichenologie.fr/Photos_AFL/Photos_AFL_H/Texte_H2/Hydropunctaria_maura.htm
France, Herqueville, anse des Moulinets, alt. 15 m - Manche
15/05/2016


Courtesy Danièle et Olivier Gonnet - Source: https://www.afl-lichenologie.fr/Photos_AFL/Photos_AFL_H/Texte_H2/Hydropunctaria_maura.htm
France, Herqueville, anse des Moulinets, alt. 15 m - Manche
15/05/2016


Alain Gerault - Source: http://www.lichensmaritimes.org/index.php?task=fiche&lichen=1089&lang=en
France, Le Passage
sequenced specimen


Alain Gerault - Source: http://www.lichensmaritimes.org/index.php?task=fiche&lichen=1089&lang=en
France, Le Passage
sequenced specimen


Alain Gerault - Source: http://www.lichensmaritimes.org/index.php?task=fiche&lichen=1089&lang=en
France, Le Passage
sequenced specimen


Alain Gerault - Source: http://www.lichensmaritimes.org/index.php?task=fiche&lichen=1089&lang=en
France, Le Passage
sequenced specimen


Alain Gerault - Source: http://www.lichensmaritimes.org/index.php?task=fiche&lichen=1089&lang=en
France, Le Passage
sequenced specimen


Triin Aimla; Owner: University of Tartu
with Caloplaca marina


Zschacke, H. (1934) Epigloeaceae, Verrucariaceae und Dermatocarpaceae. In: Dr. L. Rabenhorst‘s Kryptogamen-Flora, Band 9, Abt. 1, Teil 1. Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft, Leipzig, 695 pp. - Public Domain


Zschacke, H. (1934) Epigloeaceae, Verrucariaceae und Dermatocarpaceae. In: Dr. L. Rabenhorst‘s Kryptogamen-Flora, Band 9, Abt. 1, Teil 1. Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft, Leipzig, 695 pp. - Public Domain