Type. NORWAY. NORD-TRØNDELAG. Namdalseid, north facing slope south of Lake Altvatn, alt. 110 m, 5 Nov., 1983, T. Tønsberg 8445 (BG -holotype!, E, UPS - isotypes).
Description.Thallus thin, grey or more typically dark greenish‑ or brownish-grey, comprised of discrete areoles to 0.15-0.30 mm wide, or contiguous areoles to 0.40‑0.60 mm wide; surface plane becoming convex before erupting with vegetative propagules, matt; margin indeterminate; prothallus absent; vegetative propagules present; areoles quickly becoming consorediate or blastidiate (80-120 x 40-60 µm), sometimes breaking into discrete, irregularly shaped soralia, lighter grey than thallus. Apothecia absent or narrowly attached when present, frequent but rarely contiguous, to (0.45‑)0.70-1.00 mm in diam.; disc dark brown, quickly becoming black, rarely white or orange pruinose, persistently plane, rarely convex in largest apothecia; thalline margin entire or growing up around the proper margin, then incomplete or crenulate, often becoming consorediate, concolourous with thallus or contrastingly lighter due to abrasion of vegetative propagules (particularly in herbarium), 0.10‑0.15 mm wide, persistent; excipular ring often present, raised, sometimes forming a proper margin. Apothecial Anatomy. Thalline exciple 80‑90 µm laterally; cortex absent or ca. 10 µm wide; epinecral layer frequently present, ca. 10 µm wide; crystals absent in cortex, present in medulla; cortical cells pigmented or not, to 3.0‑5.0 µm wide; algal cells to 8.0‑12.0 µm long; thalline exciple 80‑100 µm below, cortex expanding to 20‑30 µm, I+ blue, intricate; proper exciple usually pigmented light brown, 10‑20 µm wide laterally, to 15‑40 µm wide above, or ca. 40 µm wide laterally, ca. 45 µm wide above when thalline exciple missing; hypothecium colourless, 70‑120 µm deep; hymenium 90‑130 µm high, not inspersed; paraphyses 2.0‑3.0 µm wide, not conglutinate, apices to 4.0‑5.5 µm in diam., darkly pigmented and immersed in amorphous pigment forming a red‑brown epihymenium; asci 90‑100 x 20‑27 µm. Ascospores 4-8/ascus, Type A development, Physcia- to Physconia-type, (21.5-)27.0-28.5(-34.0) x (10.5-)14.5‑16.0(-20.0) µm, average l/b ratio 1.7-1.9, often slightly constricted at maturity, lumina canals sometimes relatively long and narrow at first; torus well developed; walls not ornamented. Pycnidia not seen.
Chemistry. Spot tests all negative but soralia UV(lw)+ blue-white; secondary metabolites, sphaerophorin (major), isosphaeric acid (minor).
Substrate and Ecology. Corticolous, collected on Abies concolor, A. grandis, Acer glabrum, A. macrophyllum, Alnus crispa, A. rubra, A. sinuata, Betula, Castanopsis chrysophylla, Picea sitchensis, Pseudotsuga menziesii, Quercus garryana, Rhamnus persiana and Sorbus aucuparia. Rinodina disjuncta has been collected with R. aurantiaca, R. badiexcipula, R. capensis, R. laevigata, R. oleae, R. orculata, R. santae-monicae and R. stictica, from sea level to 1,275 m.
Distribution. A recently described species from western North America and western Norway (Tønsberg 1992). In North America it occurs from Mariposa Co., California to Kodiak Island, Alaska. Rinodina disjuncta belongs to the Vancouverian floristic element. It is most common in southwestern British Columbia and oceanic Washington and is rarely fertile in Alaska. It is a coastal rainforest species with outliers in high rainfall areas inland, namely of northern Idaho and adjacent Montana, the Revelstoke region of British Columbia, and the Yosemite Valley, California.
Notes.Rinodina disjuncta is similar to R. badiexcipula in the presence of dense crystals in the medulla (sphaerophorin and isosphaeric acid), an expanded, I+ blue lower cortex, pigmented proper exciple and Physcia-type spores, although the spores are slightly larger than in R. badiexcipula and the lumina become inflated, mostly losing their apical wall thickening. The difference between the two species is in the mode of spore development (see under R. badiexcipula), the presence of vegetative propagules in R. disjuncta. Orange pruina on the discs have observed in only one specimen (McCune 29750), a character sometimes seen in both R. badiexcipula and R. turfacea. Rinodina disjuncta is also similar to R. turfaceoides (Giralt et al. 2001) which differs in possessing accessory variolaric acid, replacing isosphaeric acid and the presence of quinones in apothecial tissues. Giralt et al. (2001) recorded sphaerophorin, no isosphaeric acid, and a trace of atranorin in three Norwegian specimens of R. disjuncta. All three species are closely related to the oro-arctic R. turfacea.
Spore development is unusually asynchronous in R. disjuncta resulting in a large variation of size of mature spores within asci and very often the presence of less than eight developed spores. The spore measurements quoted above reflect the largest spores in which a normal internal structure could be discerned. Nevertheless, spore breadth remains variable with a CV of 15%. Mature spores perhaps most frequently develop into the Physconia-type, but in many specimens development remains arrested at the Physcia-type stage.
Rinodina disjuncta is a rather variable species as shown by comparing the description in Tønsberg (1992) based on Norwegian material with that above. Tønsberg describes a fimbriate prothallus in some specimens and a thick cortex 50 µm wide. A specimen from Yosemite (Tønsberg 18485, BG) completely lacks a cortex, has smaller spores (21.0-27.0 x 10.0-16.0 µm) than other North American collections and an unusual soralium morphology but has a typical anatomy in other respects.
Specimens examined. CANADA. BRITISH COLUMBIA. 10 km NNW Pemberton, T. Tønsberg 12761; E Sicamous, T. Tønsberg 26320; French Beach, T. Tønsberg 12539; Jordan River, T. Tønsberg 12550; Long Harbour, T. Tønsberg 12072 (all BG); Moresby Island, I.M. Brodo 17218b (CANL); Nanaimo, W.J. Noble 5157b (UBC); SE Revelstoke, T. Tønsberg 26388 (BG); Schoen Lake Park, T. Goward 91740a (personal herb.); 14 mi S Squamish, I.M. Brodo 8140 (CANL); I.M. Brodo 8159 (PMAE); Upper Arrow Lake, T. Tønsberg 26402 (BG); W Vancouver, W.J. Noble 6586 (SASK); W Sprout Lake, T. Tønsberg 12245c (BG); Glacier Nat. Park, Beaver Valley, T. Goward 2269d (personal herb.). U.S.A. ALASKA. Cordova, T. Tønsberg 29879; N Dyea, T. Tønsberg 32906; White Pass, Skagway, T. Tønsberg 32801; Borough of Juneau, N Douglas Island, T. Tønsberg 16153; NW Juneau, T. Tønsberg 16272; Haines Borough, Chilcat Peninsula, T. Tønsberg 33101; Juneau, W Auke Bay, T. Tønsberg 16298; Kodiak Island Borough, E Kodiak Village, T. Tønsberg 29497; S. Kalsin Bay, T. Tønsberg 15438; W Kodiak airport, T. Tønsberg 15093. CALIFORNIA. Del Norte Co., S Oregon/California border, T. Tønsberg 14690a; Humboldt Co., W Lord‑Ellis Summit, T. Tønsberg 14769; Mariposa Co., Yosemite Nat. Park. T. Tønsberg 18485 (all BG). IDAHO, Clearwater Co., Clearwater River, B. McCune 18552 (personal herb.); Idaho Co., Lochsa River Valley, T. Tønsberg 26593a, 26607 (BG). MONTANA. Ravalli Co., Bitterroot Range, B. McCune 10753 (SASK). OREGON. Curry Co., 33 km E Port Orford, B. McCune 24168 (personal herb.); Hood River Co., N Pollalie Creek Bridge, T. Tønsberg 29112; Josephine Co., Hayes Hill Summit, T. Tønsberg 28901; Tillamook Co., Netarts, T. Tønsberg 15032 (all BG); Umatilla Co., Blue Mountains, B. McCune 29743, 29755 (personal herb.); Wasco Co., S Mount Hood, T. Tønsberg 29175. WASHINGTON. Island Co., Whidbey Island, T. Tønsberg 24500; Pierce Co., Alder Lake, T. Tønsberg 12954; Skamania Co., NW Carson, T. Tønsberg 29052; Whatcom Co., W Diablo Lake Bridge, T. Tønsberg 18544 (all BG).
Selected References. Tønsberg (1992 Fig. 116), Giralt et al. (1995), Sheard (1995), Mayrhofer & Moberg (2002 p. 102).