''Candelariella deppeanae'' is a species of
lichen
A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.[Candelariaceae
''Candelariaceae'' is a family of lichen-forming fungi in the order Candelariales. It contains seven genera and about 73 species. The family was circumscribed by Finnish lichenologist Rainar Hakulinen in 1954 to contain the type genus
In biolo ...]
. Found in southwestern North America, it was
formally described as a new species in 2007 by Swedish lichenologist Martin Westberg. The
type specimen was collected in the
Chiricahua Mountains (
Chiricahua National Monument,
Arizona) at an elevation of . Here, in an
oak forest, it was found growing on a decorticated (barkless) part of
alligator juniper (''Juniperus deppeana''). Most collections of the lichen are from the wood or trunks of this juniper plant; the
species epithet ''deppeanae'' alludes to this close relationship.
The lichen has a greenish-yellow to yellow, granular to
areolate thallus. It has also been collected in
Texas, and from
Chihuahua Chihuahua may refer to:
Places
*Chihuahua (state), a Mexican state
**Chihuahua (dog), a breed of dog named after the state
**Chihuahua cheese, a type of cheese originating in the state
**Chihuahua City, the capital city of the state
**Chihuahua Mun ...
,
Baja California Norte and
Baja California Sur
Baja California Sur (; 'South Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California Sur ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California Sur), is the least populated state and the 31st admitted state of the 32 federal ent ...
. The lichen grows mainly
on wood and decorticated trunks, but has also been less frequently recorded growing
on bark.
Secondary chemicals that have been detected in ''Candelariella deppeanae'' (using
high-performance liquid chromatography) include
calycin,
pulvic acid lactone,
vulpinic acid
Vulpinic acid is a natural product first found in and important in the symbiosis underlying the biology of lichens. It is a simple methyl ester derivative of its parent compound, pulvinic acid, and a close relative of pulvinone, both of which de ...
, and
pulvinic acid
Pulvinic acids are natural chemical pigments found in some lichens, derived biosynthetically from the aromatic amino acids phenylalanine and tyrosine, via dimerization and oxidative ring-cleavage of aryl pyruvic acids, a process that also produ ...
.
References
deppeanae
Lichen species
Lichens described in 2007
Lichens of the Southwestern United States
Lichens of the South-Central United States
Lichens of Mexico
Fungi without expected TNC conservation status
{{Ascomycota-stub