''Coenogonium lueckingii'' is a species of
corticolous (bark-dwelling),
crustose lichen
Crustose lichens are lichens that form a crust which strongly adheres to the Substrate (biology), substrate (soil, rock, tree bark, etc.), making separation from the substrate impossible without destruction. The basic structure of crustose lichen ...
in the family
Coenogoniaceae
''Coenogonium'' is a genus of crustose lichens in the monotypic family Coenogoniaceae. It has about 90 species. Most species are leaf-dwelling or grow on bark, although a few are known to grow on rocks under certain conditions, and some are ...
.
It is known to occur in a couple of locations in South Korea, where it grows on the bark of trees in humid locations.
Taxonomy
The lichen was
formally described as a new species in 2015 by Yogesh Joshi, Liudmila Gagarina, Joseph Halda, and Jae-Sun Hur. 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 Wonang Falls in Donnaeko valley (
Seogwipo,
Jeju Province
Jeju Province, officially Jeju Special Self-Governing Province, is one of the nine provinces of South Korea. The province comprises Jeju Island (; ), formerly transliterated as Cheju or Cheju Do, the country's largest island. It was previously kno ...
) at an altitude of . The
species epithet honours lichenologist
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 ...
, "for his enormous contributions to the field of lichenology".
Description
The lichen has a smooth, greenish-grey to pale 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 ...
surrounded by a white
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
apothecia are between 0.4 and 0.9 mm in diameter, and have a that is pale yellowish-orange to deep orange, encircled by a cream-coloured . The
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 ...
s, which number 8 per
ascus
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 ...
, are
ellipsoid
An ellipsoid is a surface that may be obtained from a sphere by deforming it by means of directional scalings, or more generally, of an affine transformation.
An ellipsoid is a quadric surface; that is, a surface that may be defined as the ...
to fusiform (spindle-shaped), colourless, and measure 7.5–10
μm
The micrometre ( international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: μm) or micrometer (American spelling), also commonly known as a micron, is a unit of length in the International System of Unit ...
long by 2–2.5 μm wide; they have a single
septum
In biology, a septum (Latin for ''something that encloses''; plural septa) is a wall, dividing a cavity or structure into smaller ones. A cavity or structure divided in this way may be referred to as septate.
Examples
Human anatomy
* Interatri ...
. The partner, which is from the
green alga
The green algae (singular: green alga) are a group consisting of the Prasinodermophyta and its unnamed sister which contains the Chlorophyta and Charophyta/Streptophyta. The land plants (Embryophytes) have emerged deep in the Charophyte alga as ...
l genus ''
Trentepohlia'', measures 5–10 μm in diameter and is grouped in irregular plates or short threads in the .
''Coenogonium lueckingii'' does not react to any of the standard
chemical spot tests used to test for the presence of
lichen products, and no substances were detected when the lichen was analysed using
thin-layer chromatography.
Habitat and distribution
The lichen has only been recorded from
Jogyesan and the
Chuja Islands
The Chuja Islands () are a group of 42 islands in the Jeju Strait, about halfway between Jejudo and the southern coast of Jeollanamdo. Only four islands are inhabited: Sangchuja ("Upper Chuja"), which is connected by a bridge to Hachuja ("Lower ...
; in both locations it grows on the bark of trees in humid locations.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q107577591
Gyalectales
Lichen species
Lichens described in 2015
Lichens of Eastern Asia