''Lepraria granulata'' is a species of

crustose Crustose is a habit of some types of algae and lichens in which the organism grows tightly appressed to a substrate, forming a biological layer. ''Crustose'' adheres very closely to the substrates at all points. ''Crustose'' is found on rocks and ...

and leprose lichen in the family Stereocaulaceae. It is found in mountainous locations of Eastern and Central Europe, where it usually grows over

moss Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) '' sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and hor ...

Taxonomy

''Lepraria granulata'' was formally described as a new species in 2007 by Štěpánka Slavíková-Bayerová. 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 ...

in Rila National Park (

Rila Rila ( bg, Рила, ) is the highest mountain range of Bulgaria, the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula and Southeast Europe. It is situated in southwestern Bulgaria and forms part of the Rila–Rhodope Mountains, Rhodope Massif. The highest summit is Mus ...

mountains, Bulgaria) at an altitude of ; there, the lichen was found growing over the moss ''

Grimmia sessitana ''Grimmia'' is a genus of mosses (Bryophyta), originally named by Jakob Friedrich Ehrhart in honour of Johann Friedrich Carl Grimm, a physician and botanist from Gotha, Germany. Geographic distribution Although predominantly occurring in th ...

'', which itself was covering

siliceous rock Siliceous rocks are sedimentary rocks that have silica (SiO2) as the principal constituent. The most common siliceous rock is chert; other types include diatomite. They commonly form from silica-secreting organisms such as radiolarians, diatoms, or ...

. The species epithet ''granulata'' alludes to the granular form of the

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 ...

Molecular phylogenetic 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 ...

analysis shows it to be a genetically distinct member of the '' Lepraria neglecta'' species complex.

Description

The whitish grey to grey thallus of ''Lepraria granulata'' is

in form. It comprises tiny, loosely packed granules up to 0.3 mm in diameter, often without any

hypha A hypha (; ) is a long, branching, filamentous structure of a fungus, oomycete, or actinobacterium. In most fungi, hyphae are the main mode of vegetative growth, and are collectively called a mycelium. Structure A hypha consists of one or ...

e projecting from them. The lichen is sterile, as neither ascomata nor conidiomata are produced. It contains atranorin, a common lichen product, some anthraquinones, as well as two unidentified

fatty acid In chemistry, particularly in biochemistry, a fatty acid is a carboxylic acid with an aliphatic chain, which is either saturated or unsaturated. Most naturally occurring fatty acids have an unbranched chain of an even number of carbon atoms, fr ...

s. The expected results of standard chemical spot tests are: thallus PD− or PD+ (faint yellowish), K+ (yellowish); the orange-brown hyphae present below the thallus are K+ (purple-red); while the other hyphae below the thallus are K−.

Habitat and distribution

''Lepraria granulata'' typically grows on

, also it has been recorded on soil, in fissures between boulders, and over moss growing in these fissures. It has been documented at a few locations in Bulgaria at elevations ranging from , and well as from

Styria Styria (german: Steiermark ; Serbo-Croatian and sl, ; hu, Stájerország) is a state (''Bundesland'') in the southeast of Austria. With an area of , Styria is the second largest state of Austria, after Lower Austria. Styria is bordered to ...

, Austria at , from

Krkonoše National Park Krkonoše National Park ( cs, Krkonošský národní park, often abbreviated as KRNAP) is a national park in the Liberec and Hradec Králové regions of the Czech Republic. It lies in the Krkonoše Mountains which is the highest range of the c ...

in the Czech Republic at , from

Tatra National Park, Poland Tatra National Park ( pl, Tatrzański Park Narodowy; abbr. TPN) is a List of National Parks of Poland, National Park located in the Tatra Mountains in Tatra County, in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship—Małopolska region, in central-southern Pola ...

at , and from

Tatra National Park, Slovakia Tatra(s) National Park ( sk, Tatranský národný park; abbr. TANAP) is one of the nine national parks in Slovakia. It is situated in North Central Slovakia in the Tatra Mountains. The park is important for protecting a diverse variety of flora ...

. Mosses often recorded growing with ''Lepraria granulata'' are ''

Bartramia ithyphylla ''Bartramia ithyphylla'' is a species of moss belonging to the family Bartramiaceae. References

Bartramia (plant), ithyphylla {{bryidae-stub ...

'', '' Coscinodon cribrosus'', ''

Grimmia caespiticia ''Grimmia'' is a genus of mosses (Bryophyta), originally named by Jakob Friedrich Ehrhart in honour of Johann Friedrich Carl Grimm, a physician and botanist from Gotha, Germany. Geographic distribution Although predominantly occurring in t ...

'', ''

Dicranoweisia crispula ''Dicranoweisia crispula'', the mountain pincushion, is a species of mosses that lives at both poles. It grows in the South Shetland Islands and on the Antarctic Peninsula The Antarctic Peninsula, known as O'Higgins Land in Chile and Tierra ...

'', ''

Grimmia ''Grimmia'' is a genus of mosses (Bryophyta), originally named by Jakob Friedrich Ehrhart in honour of Johann Friedrich Carl Grimm, a physician and botanist from Gotha, Germany. Geographic distribution Although predominantly occurring in ...

'' cf. ''alpestris'', '' G. sessitana'', and '' Lescuraea incurvata''. '' Lepraria borealis'', '' L. elobata'' and '' L. neglecta'' are some commonly associating lichens.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q17388082 granulata Lichen species Lichens described in 2007 Lichens of Central Europe Lichens of Southeastern Europe