Myxophora leptogiophila(Minks ex G. Winter) Nik. Hoffm. & Hafellner
Family: Pseudoperisporiaceae
[Leptorhaphis leptogiophila Minks ex G. Winter, moreLeptosphaeria leptogiophila (Minks ex G. Winter) G. Winter, Metasphaeria leptogiophila (Minks ex G. Winter) Berl. & Voglino]
Nash, T.H., Ryan, B.D., Gries, C., Bungartz, F., (eds.) 2004. Lichen Flora of the Greater Sonoran Desert Region. Vol 2.
Mycelium: hyaline, immersed in the host thallus, inconspicuous; hyphae: composed of enlarged cells, 5-7 µm thick, constricted at the septa galls: with the color of the thallus, tiny, semiglobose to globose, containing one to a few ascomata Ascomata: solitary or in groups, entirely immersed in the galls, normally only the ostioles visible as small dots, semiglobose to globose, 140-400 µm in diam. wall: with very variable pigmentation, mostly hyaline with only the ostiolar region brown, 15-55 µm thick; composed of c. 10 x 5 µm large tangentially elongated cells ostiole: closed by a protruding plug of hyaline to brownish gel hymenium: hyaline, I- hamathecium: present as paraphysoids and periphyses paraphysoids: numerous, 2-3 µm thick, with few ramifications and anastomoses, reaching up into the ostiolar region periphyses: unbranched or with one basal ramification, 1.5-3 µm thick, asci: clavate, 8-spored, 45-70 x 9-14 µm ascospores: hyaline, fusiform to ellipsoid, smooth, 10-21(-23) x 3-6.5(-7.5) µm, apically with 2-3 filiform, gelatinous appendages, but these difficult to discern Conidiomata: not observed. Hosts: Leptogium pseudofurfuraceum; hosts known outside the Sonoran region: Collema cf. coccophorum, C. crispum, C. flaccidum, C. subflaccidum, Leptogium plicatile, also recorded on Lempholemma chalazanum but this host is not confirmed; commensalistic on the thallus, inducing the formation of inconspicuous galls World distribution: widespread in Europe, Asia (Georgia, Nepal), Africa (Madeira), and North America (U.S.A.) Sonoran distribution: so far known only from a single locality in the Chiricahua Mountains, Arizona. Notes: Myxophora leptogiophila is a rather variable species with regard to the degree of forming galls, the color of the galls, the degree of pigmentation of the ascomatal wall, the presence of ostiolar plugs of gel, and the presence of filiform gelatinous appendages at the tips of the ascospores. Due to its inconspicuousness, it is easily overlooked.