''Dirina canariensis'' is a species of saxicolous (rock-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Roccellaceae. It is found in the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...

, where it grows on vertical cliffs and

acidic rock Acidic rock or acid rock refers to the chemical composition of igneous rocks that has 63% wt% SiO2 content. Rocks described as acidic usually contain more than 20% of free quartz. Typical acidic rocks are granite or rhyolite. Term is used in che ...

s. It was formally described as a new species in 2013 by lichenologists Anders Tehler and Damien Ertz. The type specimen was collected by the first author from the

Puerto de Mogán Puerto de Mogán is a picturesque fishing village and popular marina in the municipality of Mogán, set at the mouth of a steep-sided valley on the south-west coast of the island of Gran Canaria. Canal Canals or artificial waterways ...

( Gran Canaria); the species epithet refers to the type locality. The lichen has a creamy-white to brownish-white thallus (0.1–0.7 mm thick), a chalk-like medulla, and either

soralia Soredia are common reproductive structures of lichens. Lichens reproduce asexually by employing simple fragmentation and production of soredia and isidia. Soredia are powdery propagules composed of fungal hyphae wrapped around cyanobacteria o ...

or apothecia on the thallus surface (but usually not both). If apothecia are present, they have a circular outline with a diameter of up to 1.5 mm; the are and encircled by a . Ascospores measure 20–25 by 4–5

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 ...

. The closest relatives of ''Dirina canariensis'' are the European species '' D. ceratoniae'', '' D. massiliensis'', and '' D. fallax''.

References

canariensis Lichen species Lichens described in 2013 Lichens of Macaronesia {{Arthoniomycetes-stub