''Gintarasiella'' is a single-species genus in the fungal family

Teloschistaceae The Teloschistaceae are a large family of mostly lichen-forming fungi belonging to the class Lecanoromycetes in the division Ascomycota. The family, estimated to contain over 1800 species, was extensively revised in 2013, including the creation o ...

. It contains the species ''Gintarasiella aggregata'', a saxicolous (rock-dwelling), crustose lichen that is found in Australia. The lichen forms uneven, pillow-like patches up to 30 mm across, distinguished by its yellow-orange that are tightly packed or spread out and soon covered by many apothecia. These fruiting bodies start as in form (with a ) and later become (lacking a thalline margin), ranging from 0.3 to 1 mm wide and often appearing distorted due to their dense clustering.

Taxonomy

The lichen was first formally described as new to science in 2016 by the lichenologists

Gintaras Kantvilas Gintaras Kantvilas (born 1956) is an Australian lichenologist, who earned his Ph.D in 1985 from the University of Tasmania with a thesis entitled ''Studies on Tasmanian rainforest lichens''. He has authored over 432 species names, and 167 gener ...

and

Sergey Kondratyuk Sergey Yakovlevich Kondratyuk ( uk, Сергій Якович Кондратюк) (born 17 May 1959) is a Ukrainian botanist specialising in lichenology. His research deals with the taxonomy, floristics, ecology and geography of lichens and lic ...

; they classified it in the genus ''

Caloplaca ''Caloplaca'' is a lichen genus comprising a number of distinct species. Members of the genus are commonly called firedot lichen, jewel lichen.Field Guide to California Lichens, Stephen Sharnoff, Yale University Press, 2014, gold lichens, "ora ...

''. The type specimen was collected in September, 2012, by the first author from South Australia, specifically at Windmill Bay on Kangaroo Island. This specimen was found growing on outcropping limestone situated within a coastal pasture. The species epithet refers to the tight clustering of the apothecia (fruiting bodies) on the thallus. In 2017, Kondratyuk transferred the taxon to the newly proposed genus ''Gintarasiella''. The genus name honours Kantvilas, "in acknowledgement of his enormous contributions to the taxonomy of the Tasmanian and Australian lichens". Based on molecular phylogenetics analyses, both independent and combined, ''Gintarasiella'' was placed within the subfamily Teloschistoideae of the family

. Within this subfamily, it establishes a distinct and robust branch in the

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...

containing ''

Sirenophila ''Sirenophila'' is a genus of crustose lichens in the subfamily Teloschistoideae of the family Teloschistaceae. It has four species with an Australasian distribution. Taxonomy The genus was circumscribed in 2013 by Ulrik Søchting, Ulf Arup, and ...

''-''

Teloschistopsis ''Teloschistopsis'' is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Teloschistaceae. It has three species. Taxonomy The genus was circumscribed by Patrik Frödén, Ulrik Søchting, and Ulf Arup in 2013, as part of a molecular phylogenetics-led ...

''-'' Halophila'', positioning itself as the most distinct outgroup to this particular subgroup. Kondratyuk's reclassification of the species was not followed in a later paper by Kantvilas.

Description

The genus ''Gintarasiella'' is distinguished within the subfamily Teloschistoideae by its cushion-like form, apothecia (fruiting bodies) densely packed to the extent they almost hide the thallus, and both the

hymenium The hymenium is the tissue layer on the hymenophore of a fungal fruiting body where the cells develop into basidia or asci, which produce spores. In some species all of the cells of the hymenium develop into basidia or asci, while in others some ...

and being densely filled with , along with relatively small . ''Gintarasiella aggregata'' is a crustose lichen that forms irregular, cushion-like patches up to 30 mm wide, characterised by that are yellow-orange and range from 0.2 to 0.5 mm wide. The areoles are either scattered or contiguous, quickly becoming covered by numerous apothecia (fruiting bodies), which are initially but become more as they mature. The apothecia, measuring 0.3 to 1 mm in diameter, are tightly clustered and range in shape from round to distorted- rhomboid due to crowding. The of the apothecia is a deeper orange than the thallus, , and (without a powdery coating). The of the apothecia is glossy and similar in colour to the disc, becoming less noticeable in older specimens. The is

hyaline A hyaline substance is one with a glassy appearance. The word is derived from el, ὑάλινος, translit=hyálinos, lit=transparent, and el, ὕαλος, translit=hýalos, lit=crystal, glass, label=none. Histopathology Hyaline cartilage is ...

(translucent) and heavily with oil droplets, while the

, also hyaline, contains oil droplets and a band of golden-yellow crystals.

Paraphyses Paraphyses are erect sterile filament-like support structures occurring among the reproductive apparatuses of fungi, ferns, bryophytes and some thallophytes. The singular form of the word is paraphysis. In certain fungi, they are part of the fe ...

in the hymenium are slender and sparsely branched, widening at the tips. The

asci ASCI or Asci may refer to: * Advertising Standards Council of India * Asci, the plural of ascus, in fungal anatomy * Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative * American Society for Clinical Investigation * Argus Sour Crude Index * Association of ...

contain eight spores, with the being and

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 ...

. No pycnidia (asexual reproductive structures) have been found in this species.

Similar species

'' Dijigiella subaggregata'' closely resembles ''Gintarasiella aggregata'', yet it is distinguishable by several key features. It has a thinner thallus and smaller, flatter apothecia. Unlike ''G. aggregata'', the hymenium and subhymenium of ''D. subaggregata'' lack oil droplets. Additionally, its ascospores are smaller with wider septa. Another significant difference is its corticolous habit, growing on bark, as opposed to ''G. aggregata'', which grows on rocks.

Habitat and distribution

''Gintarasiella aggregata'' is known to occur only at the type locality on Kangaroo Island. Other lichen species it often associates with include '' Buellia albula'', '' B. xantholeuca'', '' Caloplaca johnwhinrayi'', ''

Cerothallia yorkensis ''Cerothallia yorkensis'' is a species of crustose lichen in the family Teloschistaceae. Found in Australia, where it grows on limestone outcrops, it was described as new to science in 2011. The specific epithet ''yorkensis'' refers to the type ...

'', ''

Flavoplaca kantvilasii ''Flavoplaca kantvilasii'' is a species of saxicolous (rock-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Teloschistaceae. Found in Australia, it was formally described as a new species in 2007. Taxonomy The lichen was formally described by th ...

'', '' F. mereschkowskiana'', and '' Lecania turicensis''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q43868919 Teloschistales Teloschistales genera Monotypic Lecanoromycetes genera Lichen genera Taxa described in 2016 Taxa named by Jae-Seoun Hur Taxa named by Sergey Kondratyuk