TYPE. “Super corticem Sorbi aucuarpiae in Hogland (Wainio).” (Nylander 1877).
Description. Life form: lichenized fungus.
Thallus crustose, epiphloedal, yellowish gray becoming gray green in shade, thin to thick, rugose to areolate; hypothallus colorless. Vegetative diaspores absent. Photobiont chlorococcoid alga. Ascomata lecideine apothecia, sessile, 1.0-1.6 mm diam.; disk black, epruinose, flat to convex; margin prominent becoming excluded, entire, flexuose. Exciple blackish green to dull gray-blue; epihymenium blackish green to dull gray-blue, without crystals; hymenium hyaline, inspersed; hypothecium red-brown. Asci 8-spored; ascospores simple, hyaline, ellipsoid, 10-12 × 7 µm. Pycnidia not seen.
Chemistry. Hymenial gel I+ blue, disappearing; asci I+ reddish.
Substrate and Habitat. Corticolous.
Distribution. Pantemperate (Europe, Turkey, Taiwan, eastern North America); in North Carolina found in the Blue Ridge ecoregion.
Notes. This species is of questionable distinction, as certain online checklists have it listed as a synonym of L. elaeochroma (Diederich et al. 2023, Nimis 2023), however no formal combination has been published. Lecidella achristotera is distinguished from L. elaeochroma by the inspersed hymenium (Nimis & Poelt 1987); however, this trait is reported in L. eleaochroma (Knopf & Leuckert 2004). Lecidella eleaochroma is postulated as polyphyletic (Zhao 2015); more study is needed to verify the status of L. achristotera.
Literature
Diederich, P., D. Ertz, N. Stapper, E. Sérusiaux, D. Van den Broeck, P. van den Boom & C. Ries (2023) The lichens and lichenicolous fungi of Belgium, Luxembourg and northern France. URL: http://www.lichenology.info [06.03.2023].
Knoph, J.-G. & C. Leuckert. (2004) Lecidella. Pp. 309-320 in Nash, TH, III, B.D. Ryan, P. Diederich, C. Gries & F. Bungartz (eds.): Lichen Flora of the Greater Sonoran Desert Region, Vol. 2. Lichens Unlimited, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona.
Nimis P.L. (2023). ITALIC - The Information System on Italian Lichens. Version 7.0. University of Trieste, Dept. of Biology, (https://dryades.units.it/italic), accessed on 2023-03-05.
Nimis, P.L. & J. Poelt. (1987) The lichens and lichenicolous fungi of Sardinia (Italy): an annotated list. Studia Geobotanica7 (Supplement 1): 1-269.
Nylander, W. (1877) Addenda nova ad lichenographiam Europaeam. Contin. XXVII. Flora (Regensburg). 60: 220-233 (original description as Lecidea achristotera).
Zhao, X., L.L. Zhang, Z.T. Zhao, W.C. Wang, S.D. Leavitt & H.T. Lumbsch. (2015) A Molecular Phylogeny of the Lichen Genus Lecidella Focusing on Species from Mainland China. PLoS ONE10(9): e0139405.