''Lepraria harrisiana'' is a species of leprose lichen in the family Stereocaulaceae. It is widespread in the eastern United States where it occurs in humid habitats, such as conifer swamps and riparian forests.

Taxonomy

It was formally described as a new species by lichenologist James Lendemer in 2012. The type specimen was collected by Lendemer in

Dismal Swamp State Park Dismal Swamp State Park is a North Carolina state park in Camden County, North Carolina, in the United States. The park was created as a state natural area in 1974 with the help of The Nature Conservancy, and on July 28, 2007, the North Caroli ...

, North Carolina, where it was found growing on the bark of ''

Chamaecyparis ''Chamaecyparis'', common names cypress or false cypress (to distinguish it from related cypresses), is a genus of conifers in the cypress family Cupressaceae, native to eastern Asia (Japan and Taiwan) and to the western and eastern margins of th ...

''. 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 ...

honors lichenologist Richard C. Harris, among the first modern scientists to study the genus ''

Lepraria ''Lepraria'' is a genus of leprose crustose lichens that grows on its substrate like patches of granular, caked up, mealy dust grains.A taxonomic revision of the North American species of Lepraria s.l. that produce divaricatic acid, with note ...

''. Using molecular phylogenetics, Lendemer was able to show that there were two distinct species being called ''

Lepraria caesiella ''Lepraria'' is a genus of leprose crustose lichens that grows on its substrate like patches of granular, caked up, mealy dust grains.A taxonomic revision of the North American species of Lepraria s.l. that produce divaricatic acid, with notes ...

'', a species originally described by Harris. Both of the

cryptic species In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

are chemically identical (i.e., they produce the same set of

secondary compounds Secondary metabolites, also called specialised metabolites, toxins, secondary products, or natural products, are organic compounds produced by any lifeform, e.g. bacteria, fungi, animals, or plants, which are not directly involved in the norma ...

sometimes used to distinguish lichens), but they differ ecologically, and rarely occur in the same geographic area. Two distinct

morphotype In biology, polymorphism is the occurrence of two or more clearly different morphs or forms, also referred to as alternative ''phenotypes'', in the population of a species. To be classified as such, morphs must occupy the same habitat at the s ...

s occur that correlate to the two

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, ...

s recovered in phylogenetic analysis. ''Lepraria harrisiana'' refers to the population with placodioid thalli (i.e., crustose in the center and lobed at the periphery), while ''L. caesiella'' has aggregate thalli.

Description

''Lepraria harrisiana'' has a greenish-blue (accruing a yellowish hue after drying in the herbarium), crustose and leprose thallus. The granules comprising the thallus are more or less spherical, typically measuring from 27 to 48

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 ...

in diameter. Secondary chemicals produced by ''Lepraria harrisiana'' include atranorin,

zeorin Zeorin is a triterpene with the molecular formula C30H52O2 which occurs in many lichens A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among hypha, filaments of multiple fungus, fungi species in a mutu ...

, and pallidic acid. The expected results of standard spot tests are K+ (yellow), C−, KC−, P+ (weak yellow), UV−.

Habitat and distribution

The lichen is widespread in the eastern United States where it occurs in humid habitats, such as conifer swamps and riparian forests. Its distribution extends from Massachusetts to Georgia, westward to at least Alabama, and the lichen also occurs in disjunct populations at high elevations of the southern Appalachian Mountains, riparian conifer forests along the edges of the Ozarks and the Ouachita Mountains, the oceanic forests of the

Canadian Maritimes The Maritimes, also called the Maritime provinces, is a region of Eastern Canada consisting of three provinces: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. The Maritimes had a population of 1,899,324 in 2021, which makes up 5.1% of Ca ...

, and conifer swamps of the Great Lakes Region.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q28475126 harrisiana Lichen species Lichens described in 2012 Lichens of Eastern Canada Lichens of the United States Fungi without expected TNC conservation status