''Carbacanthographis aggregata'' is a species of
corticolous (bark-dwelling)
lichen
A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.[Graphidaceae
The Graphidaceae are a family of lichens in the order Ostropales.
Distribution and ecology
The vast majority of Graphidaceae species are restricted to the tropics. Most Graphidaceae species are epiphytic (i.e. they grow only on plants).
Gener ...]
. Found in Asia, it was
formally described as a new species in 2022 by Shirley Cunha Feuerstein and
Robert Lücking
Robert Lücking (born 1964) is a German lichenologist. He is a leading expert on foliicolous lichens–lichens that live on leaves.
Life and career
Born in Ulm in 1964, Lücking earned both his master's (1990) and PhD degree (1994) at the Univer ...
. The
type specimen
In biology, a type is a particular wiktionary:en:specimen, specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to a ...
was collected from the Gunung Pulai Forest Reserve in
Johor
Johor (; ), also spelled as Johore, is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia in the south of the Malay Peninsula. Johor has land borders with the Malaysian states of Pahang to the north and Malacca and Negeri Sembilan ...
(Malaysia) at an altitude of . It has also been recorded from the
Tai Po Kau Nature Reserve
The Tai Po Kau Nature Reserve, also called Tai Po Kau Special Area, is a nature reserve in the Tai Po area of the New Territories in northern Hong Kong. The area comprises a dense, hilly woodland with over 100 species of trees and numerous strea ...
in China. The lichen has a greenish grey to grey
thallus
Thallus (plural: thalli), from Latinized Greek (), meaning "a green shoot" or "twig", is the vegetative tissue of some organisms in diverse groups such as algae, fungi, some liverworts, lichens, and the Myxogastria. Many of these organisms wer ...
that lacks a
cortex, but has a black
prothallus
A prothallus, or prothallium, (from Latin ''pro'' = forwards and Greek ''θαλλος'' (''thallos'') = twig) is usually the gametophyte stage in the life of a fern or other pteridophyte. Occasionally the term is also used to describe the young ...
. Its
ascomata (
ascospore
An ascus (; ) is the sexual spore-bearing cell produced in ascomycete fungi. Each ascus usually contains eight ascospores (or octad), produced by meiosis followed, in most species, by a mitotic cell division. However, asci in some genera or s ...
-bearing structures) are aggregated in small clusters; it is this characteristic that is referred to in the
specific epithet
In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...
''aggregata''. The lichen contains
salazinic acid
Salazinic acid is a depsidone with a lactone ring. It is found in some lichens, and is especially prevalent in ''Parmotrema'' and ''Bulbothrix'', where its presence or absence is often used to help classify species in those genera.
History
I ...
and trace amounts of
norstictic acid
Norstictic acid is a depsidone produced as a secondary metabolites in lichen
A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship. ; these are
lichen products that can be detected using
thin-layer chromatography.
References
aggregata
''Aggregata'' is a genus of parasitic alveolates belonging to the phylum Apicomplexa.
Taxonomy
The organism found in the octopus was first named as ''Benedenia octopiana'' by Schneider in 1875. Since ''Benedenia'' was preoccupied, ''Eucoccidium' ...
Lichen species
Lichens described in 2022
Taxa named by Robert Lücking
Lichens of China
Lichens of Malaysia
{{Ostropales-stub