''Menegazzia terebrata'' is a species of

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 dive ...

found scattered across many continents, including North America,

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, and

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

Taxonomy

This species was first described as ''Lobaria terebrata'' by

Georg Franz Hoffmann Georg Franz Hoffmann was a German botanist and lichenologist. He was born on 13 January 1760 in Marktbreit, Germany, and died on 17 March 1826 in Moscow, Russia. Professional career After graduating from the University of Erlangen in 1786, he w ...

in 1796. In 1854, Italian lichenologist

Abramo Bartolommeo Massalongo Abramo Bartolommeo Massalongo (13 May 1824 – 25 May 1860) was an Italian paleobotanist and lichenologist. He was born in Tregnago in the Province of Verona and took a great interest in botany as a young man. Massalongo joined the faculty of me ...

renamed it ''Menegazzia terebrata''.

Description

''Menegazzia terebrata'' has a glossy blue-grey and a black, wrinkled undersurface. This species does not have any

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 on the undersurface. The medulla is white. Asci contain eight single-celled

ascospore An ascus (; ) is the sexual spore-bearing cell produced in ascomycete fungi. Each ascus usually contains eight ascospores (or octad), produced by meiosis followed, in most species, by a mitotic cell division. However, asci in some genera or ...

s, like most species of Ascomycota. The spores are

amyloid Amyloids are aggregates of proteins characterised by a fibrillar morphology of 7–13 nm in diameter, a beta sheet (β-sheet) secondary structure (known as cross-β) and ability to be stained by particular dyes, such as Congo red. In the huma ...

positive. The outside edges are different shades of brown. This species is distinguished by small holes in the 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 ...

. Apothecia are rarely seen on this species so they mostly reproduce asexually. The lobes of this lichen are rounded and almost tube-like, with

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 ...

on the lobe tips. The holes in its upper surface give the lichen many of its common names, including treeflute lichen, honeycomb lichen, and keyhole lichen. A

potassium hydroxide Potassium hydroxide is an inorganic compound with the formula K OH, and is commonly called caustic potash. Along with sodium hydroxide (NaOH), KOH is a prototypical strong base. It has many industrial and niche applications, most of which exp ...

test will produce K+ yellow results on the surface and medulla of this lichen.

Habitat and distribution

''Menegazzia terebrata'' grows on acidic substrates, including trees and rock. It prefers acidic species of tree, including

Alder Alders are trees comprising the genus ''Alnus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The genus comprises about 35 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, a few reaching a large size, distributed throughout the north temperate zone with a few sp ...

, Beech, and Northern white cedar. It also prefers to grow on more acidic

siliceous Silicon dioxide, also known as silica, is an oxide of silicon with the chemical formula , most commonly found in nature as quartz and in various living organisms. In many parts of the world, silica is the major constituent of sand. Silica is one ...

and siliciferous rock. It is most common in northern wet-mesic forests. It can be an indicator of an old growth forest. This species sometimes grows with moss, and often the moss grows between the lobes of lichen. It is often found growing on coastlines near the ocean. Menegazzia terebrata was found to be an indicator species of clean air in Western Oregon and Washington.

Ecology

The algae in this lichen are chlorococcoid.

Chemistry

''Menegazzia terebrata'' produces a number of secondary metabolites. The contains

atranorin Atranorin is a chemical substance produced by some species of lichen. It is a secondary metabolite belonging to a group of compounds known as depsides. Atranorin has analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antifungal, cytotoxic, antioxidant, ...

. The medullar layer contains menegazziaic acid, stictic acid and constictic acid. ''Menegazzia terebrata'' and another species of lichen in the Menegazzia family were the first two species where menegazziaic acid were found, so it was named after them. Meneggazziaic acid is a 3- hydroxylated 3-deformylstitic acid.

References

External links

''Menegazzia terebrata'' gallery
at th
''Stridvall's Botanical Site''
a

{{Taxonbar, from=Q310576 terebrata Lichen species Lichens described in 1796 Taxa named by Georg Franz Hoffmann