''Tephromela lignicola'' is a species of

lignicolous This glossary of mycology is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to mycology, the study of fungi. Terms in common with other fields, if repeated here, generally focus on their mycology-specific meaning. Related terms can be found ...

(wood-dwelling),

crustose lichen Crustose lichens are lichens that form a crust which strongly adheres to the Substrate (biology), substrate (soil, rock, tree bark, etc.), making separation from the substrate impossible without destruction. The basic structure of crustose lichen ...

in the family

Tephromelataceae The Tephromelataceae are a family of lichenized fungi in the order Lecanorales. The family was circumscribed by Austrian lichenologist Josef Hafellner in 1984. Tephromelataceae comprises the genera '' Tephromela'', '' Calvitimela'', '' Mycoblastu ...

. It is found in the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouzet ...

, where it grows on fenceposts and similar timber.

Taxonomy

The lichen was formally described as a new species in 2019 by lichenologists Alan Orange and Alan Fryday. 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 second author from

Weddell Island Weddell Island ( es, Isla San José) is one of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic, lying off the southwest extremity of West Falkland. It is situated west-northwest of South Georgia Island, north of Livingston Island, northeast of Ca ...

, where it was found growing on a fencepost. The species epithet refers to its preferred substrate. Other lichens associated with ''Tephromela lignicola'' include '' Blastenia circumpolaris'', '' Buellia punctata'', '' Cliostomum griffithii'', '' Lecanora expallens'', and '' Xylographa vitiligo''.

Description

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 ...

of ''Tephromela lignicola'' is endoxylic, meaning it is completely within its woody substrate. Its tiny

soralia 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 o ...

emerge from the surface, initially following the grain of the wood, but eventually forming a more or less continuous crust. The soredia are finely powdery (''farinose'') and pale green to blue-grey; individually they measure 20–25

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, but aggregate into clumps that are up to 75–100 μm across. The lichen is sterile, meaning it does not produce apothecia. The

photobiont A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.trebouxioid—spherical, unicellular

green alga The green algae (singular: green alga) are a group consisting of the Prasinodermophyta and its unnamed sister which contains the Chlorophyta and Charophyta/Streptophyta. The land plants (Embryophytes) have emerged deep in the Charophyte alga as ...

e. Thin-layer chromatography shows that the lichen contains atranorin and alectoronic acid.

Distribution

''Tephromela lignicola'' is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the Falkland Islands, and is locally frequent on East Falkland,

West Falkland West Falkland ( es, Isla Gran Malvina) is the second largest of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic. It is a hilly island, separated from East Falkland by the Falkland Sound. Its area is , 37% of the total area of the islands. Its coastli ...

, and Weddell Island. It grows on fenceposts and worked lumber.

Species interactions

'' Skyttea violacea'' is a lichenicolous fungus that has been noted to

parasitise Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has ...

''Tephromela lignicola''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q108423271 Lecanorales Lichens described in 2019 Lichen species Lichens of the subantarctic islands Taxa named by Alan Orange Taxa named by Alan Fryday