TYPE. “Hab. Ad saxa oolitica prov. Veronensis potiss. in oppido Velo ad splenucas (Covoli).” (Massalongo 1855). ITALY. Massalongo s.n. (G G-G-178040/1, type).
Description.Life form: lichenized fungus.
[Translated and modified from Roux (2009)] Thallus morphology: crustose, orange-brown to dark or blackish brown-grey, but lightening in herbarium; hypothallus often visible as blackish or gray contact lines. Thallus structure: not stratified, with abundant crystals of substrate obscuring hyphae of mycobiont. Photobiont Trentepohlia alga, abundant, often forming filaments; cells 16.5–23 × 12–17 µm with walls 0.5–2.5 µm thick. Ascomata perithecia, black, globular, 0.1–0.2 mm in diam., at maturity the apex flat or ± round, with ostiole visible (at 40X). Exciple black, thin (basal part 10–12 µm), united with an involucre often not well distinguishable; the entire involucral & upper part of exciple is noticeably thicker (up to 40–50 µm) than the lower part of exciple, both between paraplectenchyma and scleroplectenchyma, consisting of cells more short and thicker in the upper part (locuole of 1.5–5 µm; wall 1.5–2 µm thick) than in the lower part (locuole of 3–9 × 1.5–2.5 µm; wall 0.5–1.5 µm thick), with wall blackish brown due to fine granular pigment. The apex part of the exciple is covered by an amorphous layer, colorless, 4–7 µm thick, and around the ostiole, under the amorphous layer, papillae can be seen, which can be interpreted as periphyses. Hymenial gel partially I+ (reddish orange); hamathecium I–, consisting of long interascal filaments, reticulately branched and anastomosing, interpreted as pseudoparaphyses [reaching the subhymenium] or paraphysoids [the inside of very young ascoma almost completely (from the top to the base) consisting of a network of short- and wide-cell filaments]; periphyses can be seen from the outside formation, in the form of circumostial papillae of 8–10 × 1.5–3 µm, mostly brown, while the periphyses of the internal formation, of 10–17 × 2–2.5 µm, very difficult to distinguish from the paraphysoids. Asci (38)46–59.8–75.5(88) × (11.5)13–17.3–21(26) µm, with a length/width ratio (l/w) of (2.1)2.7–3.6–4.7(5.4) (n = 55), obpyriform or nearly obpyriform, with a wider part generally in the middle or in the third base part, with a foot very short and unequally two-lobed, fissured, and with thick tholus (noticeably thickening in K) having a distinguishable, narrow ocular chamber and without distinct nose, (6-)8–spored; ascal wall I–, but cell plasma I+ reddish orange. Ascospores hyaline to bright brown, oblong or somewhat sole-shaped (somewhat unicellular, with one cell a little shorter and a little rounder than the other), round at both ends, from (11.5)15.5–18.8–22(25.5) × (3.5)4.5–5.4–6.5(7.5) µm, with a length/width ratio (l/w) of (2.6) 2.9–3.5–4.1(4.9) (n = 259), 1–septate, generally slightly septate thinned, fresh with 2 oil droplets in each cell (rarely only 1; disappearing in K and in herbarium), surrounded by a halo (visible in K, generally not in water, 1.5–3.5 µm thick in K), very rarely eventually separated into two pieces; bright brown spores with a small torus and with a wall and septa decorated with very fine brown granules. Conidiomatapycnidia, abundant, black, very small (45–80 µm diameter), +/- globose or low obpyriform or ellipsoid, 2/3 immersed, unilocular, with a dark brown wall, paraplectenchymatous, cells 3–6.5 × 2–4 µm, thin-walled, dark brown; ostiole surrounded by papillae, notable as larger (11–28 × 2.5–4 µm) and more distinguishable than those of the perithecia. Conidiogenous cells emerging from the pycnidial wall (conidiophores pale), hyaline, bottle-shaped, 5–10.5 × 2.5–4 µm; conidia hyaline, bacilliform, 4–5 × 1–1.5 µm.
Chemistry. Not reported
Distribution. Europe, India, North America; in North Carolina found in the Piedmont ecoregion.
Literature
Harris, R.C. (1995) More Florida Lichens. Including the 10¢ Tour of the Pyrenolichens. Published by the Author, Bronx, N.Y. 192 pp.
Massalongo, A.B. (1855) Symmicta lichenum novorum vel minus cognitorum. 156 pp. (original description as Arthopyrenia saxicola).
Roux, C. (2009) Naetrocymbe saxicola, likeno kun Trentepohlia. Bulletin de la Société linnéenne de Provence60: 127–142 [in Esperanto].
Singh P., K. Singh & A. Bhatt. (2015) Diversity and distribution of microlichens in the state of Arunachal Pradesh, Eastern Himalaya, India. Check List 11(6): 1807.