''Flavoparmelia virensica'' is a species of corticolous (bark-dwelling),

foliose lichen Foliose lichen is one of the morphological classes of lichens, which are complex organisms that arise from the symbiotic relationship between fungi and a photosynthetic partner, typically algae. This partnership allows lichen to live in diverse ...

found in

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

, newly described in 2010. This species, belonging to the large family

Parmeliaceae The Parmeliaceae is a large and diverse family of Lecanoromycetes. With over 2700 species in 71 genera, it is the largest family of lichen-forming fungi. The most speciose genera in the family are the well-known groups: '' Xanthoparmelia'' ( 822 ...

, is similar in appearance to ''

Flavoparmelia rutidota ''Flavoparmelia'' is a genus of foliose lichens in the family Parmeliaceae. Because of their appearance, they are commonly known as greenshield lichens. The widely distributed genus contains 32 species. It was circumscription (taxonomy), circumsc ...

'' and '' F. caperatula'', but can be distinguished by its spindle-shaped and significant quantities of virensic acid. The lichen grows on dead and burnt wood as well as the bark of trees from the genera ''

Allocasuarina ''Allocasuarina'' is a genus of trees in the flowering plant family Casuarinaceae. They are endemic to Australia, occurring primarily in the south. Like the closely related genus ''Casuarina'', they are commonly called sheoaks or she-oaks. Wi ...

'', ''

Acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia. The genus na ...

'', and ''

Hakea ''Hakea'' ( ) is a genus of about 150 species of plants in the Family ''Proteaceae'', endemic to Australia. They are shrubs or small trees with leaves that are sometimes flat, otherwise circular in cross section in which case they are sometimes d ...

''.

Taxonomy

''Flavoparmelia virensica'' was formally described as a new species in 2010 by lichenologists John Elix, Oscar Blanco, and Ana Crespo. 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 by the first author from a lookout between

Koolyanobbing Koolyanobbing is located north-northeast of the town of Southern Cross, Western Australia. A subsidiary of Cleveland-Cliffs of Cleveland, Ohio mines Iron ore here. The ore is railed to the port at Esperance for export. Current operations commen ...

township and Dowd Hill 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 ...

''virensica'' is derived from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

word ''virens'' ("green"), and refers to the presence of substantial quantities of virensic acid in the lichen.

Molecular phylogeny Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

and

historical biogeography Phylogeography is the study of the historical processes that may be responsible for the past to present geographic distributions of genealogical lineages. This is accomplished by considering the geographic distribution of individuals in light of ge ...

analysis of genus '' Flavoparmelia'' suggests that ''Flavoparmelia virensica'' diverged genetically from its previous ancestor about 2 million years ago.

Description

''Flavoparmelia virensica'' has a yellow-green upper

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 ...

surface and a black lower surface. It can grow up to wide and has laterally lobes that are irregularly branched, with more or less rotund tips. The thallus lacks

soredia 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 or gr ...

, , , and

isidia An isidium is a vegetative reproductive structure present in some lichens. Isidia are outgrowths of the thallus surface, and are corticated (i.e., containing the outermost layer of the thallus), usually with a columnar structure, and consisting o ...

, and has sparse, simple

rhizine In lichens, rhizines are multicellular root-like structures, arising mostly from the lower surface. A lichen with rhizines is termed rhizinate, while a lichen lacking rhizines is termed erhizinate. Rhizines serve only to anchor the lichen to their ...

s. The

apothecia An ascocarp, or ascoma (), is the fruiting body ( sporocarp) of an ascomycete phylum fungus. It consists of very tightly interwoven hyphae and millions of embedded asci, each of which typically contains four to eight ascospores. Ascocarps are mo ...

are scattered over the thallus surface, measuring 1–4 mm wide. they have a concave then undulate-distorted that is cinnamon-brown to dark brown. The 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 ...

al and measure 14–16 by 7–8 μm. The are , and measure 8–9 by 1 μm.

Habitat and distribution

''Flavoparmelia virensica'' is sparsely distributed throughout the southwest region of

. It commonly grows on the bark of dead and burnt trees, as well as on the bark of ''

'', ''

'', and ''

'' trees. This species is often found in ''

Eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including '' Corymbia'', they are commonly known as euca ...

'' woodland environments where

ironstone Ironstone is a sedimentary rock, either deposited directly as a ferruginous sediment or created by chemical replacement, that contains a substantial proportion of an iron ore compound from which iron (Fe) can be smelted commercially. Not to be con ...

rock

outcrop An outcrop or rocky outcrop is a visible exposure of bedrock or ancient superficial deposits on the surface of the Earth. Features Outcrops do not cover the majority of the Earth's land surface because in most places the bedrock or superficial ...

s and

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

outcrops are present. It is known to coexist with various other lichen species including '' Buellia reagenella'', '' B. tetrapla'', ''

Flavoparmelia caperatula ''Flavoparmelia'' is a genus of foliose lichens in the family Parmeliaceae. Because of their appearance, they are commonly known as greenshield lichens. The widely distributed genus contains 32 species. It was circumscribed by American lichenolog ...

'', '' F. rutidota'', ''

Physcia jackii ''Physcia'' is a genus of lichenized fungi in the family Physciaceae. The genus name means "inflated" or "sausage-like", referring to the form of the type species. According to a 2008 estimate, the widespread genus contains 73 species. Species ...

'', ''

Punctelia subalbicans ''Punctelia subalbicans'' is a species of foliose lichen in the family Parmeliaceae. It is found in Australia and New Zealand, where it grows on the bark of various tree species. Taxonomy The lichen was first described as a new species by Jame ...

'', '' P. subflava'', '' Ramalina inflata'' subsp. ''australis'', '' Ramboldia brunneocarpa'', '' Teloschistes chrysophthalmus'', and '' Tephromela alectoronica''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q10496609 Parmeliaceae Lichen species Lichens described in 2010 Taxa named by Ana Crespo Taxa named by John Alan Elix Lichens of Australia