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 forms an orange to bright-yellow thallus with ascending that gives it the overall appearance of a tuft. The lichen occurs in western and northern Europe and western North America.
Vilmos Kőfaragó-Gyelnik
Vilmos Kőfaragó-Gyelnik (March 30, 1906 – March 15, 1945) was a Hungarian botanist and lichenologist.
Prior to earning his PhD in 1929 from Budapest University, he spent a year in Cairo to help organize a botanical museum. In 1930 he started ...
, who classified it in the genus '' Xanthoria''. The type specimen was collected in 1932 from
Corvallis, Oregon
Corvallis ( ) is a city and the county seat of Benton County in central western Oregon, United States. It is the principal city of the Corvallis, Oregon Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Benton County. As of the 2020 United ...
, where it was found growing on maple. Frank Sipe, a botany professor in Oregon, had sent Gyelnik lichen specimens for study. Ulrik Søchting,
Ingvar Kärnefelt
Jan Eric Ingvar Kärnefelt (born 1944) is a Swedish lichenologist.
Early life and education
Kärnefelt was born in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1944. His initial goal in his higher-level studies at University of Cologne in 1966–1967 was to become ...
, 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 ...
Xanthomendoza
''Xanthomendoza'' is a genus of small, bright orange foliose lichen, foliose lichens with lecanorine apothecia. It is in the family Teloschistaceae. Members of the genus are List of common names of lichen genera, commonly called sunburst lichens ...
'' in 2003 as part of a revision of that genus. It has also been proposed for inclusion in the genera ''
Oxneria
''Oxneria'' is a genus of foliose lichens in the family Teloschistaceae. It has four species. The genus was circumscribed in 2003 by Sergey Kondratyuk and Ingvar Kärnefelt, with ''Oxneria alfredii'' assigned as the type species.
The generic nam ...
'' (in 2003) and ''
Gallowayella
''Gallowayella'' is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Teloschistaceae. It has 15 species. The genus was circumscription (taxonomy), circumscribed in 2012 by Sergey Kondratyuk, Natalya Fedorenko, Soili Stenroos, Ingvar Kärnefelt, Joh ...
'' (in 2012). In the latter instance, the proposed name "Gallowayella oregona" was not validly published because of errors with the citation of the
basionym
In the scientific name of organisms, basionym or basyonym means the original name on which a new name is based; the author citation of the new name should include the authors of the basionym in parentheses. The term "basionym" is used in both botan ...
.
''Xanthomendoza poeltii'', described by Kondratyuk and Kärnefelt as a new European species in 1997, was synonymised with ''X. oregana'' in 2014 based on DNA analysis.
Description
The thallus of ''Xanthomendosa oregana'' has a bright yellow to orange upper surface, forming tufts of up to about in diameter. The of this lichen, which are the leaf-like or flattened branches that make up its thallus, tend to lie flat against the surface they grow on but can also rise up slightly. These lobes are generally smooth, though they can sometimes have a slightly wrinkled appearance. A key characteristic of ''Xanthomendosa oregana'' is the formation of marginal or near the edge structures known as , which are involved in
asexual reproduction
Asexual reproduction is a type of reproduction that does not involve the fusion of gametes or change in the number of chromosomes. The offspring that arise by asexual reproduction from either unicellular or multicellular organisms inherit the fu ...
.Rhizines are scattered on the underside, either free or attached to the .Apothecia (fruiting bodies), which are typically disc-shaped and produce spores, are not commonly found in this species. However, when they do occur, they can be quite numerous on certain individual lichens. Another feature of ''Xanthomendosa oregana'' is the frequent presence of pycnidia, which are tiny, flask-shaped structures that produce asexual spores (
conidia
A conidium ( ; ), sometimes termed an asexual chlamydospore or chlamydoconidium (), is an asexual, non-motile spore of a fungus. The word ''conidium'' comes from the Ancient Greek word for dust, ('). They are also called mitospores due to the ...
). The conidia in these pycnidia vary in shape, ranging from
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 ...
Distinguishing ''Xanthomendoza oregana'' from '' Gallowayella fulva'' and ''
Xanthoria ulophyllodes
''Xanthoria'' is a genus of lichenized fungi in the family Teloschistaceae. Common names include orange lichen,
When compared to ''Xanthoria ulophyllodes'', ''Xanthomendoza oregana'' is noted to have somewhat slimmer lobes and a less thick upper cortex. Additionally, ''Xanthomendoza oregana'' does not form the structured, rosette-like thallus seen in ''Xanthoria ulophyllodes'', which is characterised by tightly marginal lobes.
Habitat and distribution
''Xanthomendoza oregana'' is part of a
biogeographical
Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species and ecosystems in geographic space and through geological time. Organisms and biological communities often vary in a regular fashion along geographic gradients of latitude, elevation, i ...
group that is found in both western Europe and western North America, known as the western Europe–western North America disjunct biogeographical element. In the western regions of North America, particularly in the Pacific oceanic and suboceanic areas, ''Xanthomendoza oregana'' is quite widespread. In Europe, this species has been identified in several countries, though it was previously reported under a different name (''X. poeltii''). It has been observed in Hungary, Germany, Denmark, southern Sweden, and southern Norway. The full extent of its geographical distribution remains somewhat unclear.
Unlike many other lichens and bryophytes that share this transatlantic distribution, ''Xanthomendoza oregana'' primarily inhabits lowland temperate areas. This
corticolous lichen A corticolous lichen is a lichen that grows on bark.Alan Silverside's Lichen Glossary (a-f), Alan Silverside/ref> This is contrasted with lignicolous lichen, which grows on wood that has had the bark stripped from it,Alan Silverside's Lichen Glos ...
typically grows on deciduous trees, often in open spaces. In southern Sweden, for example, it is commonly found on trees in parks and churchyards, indicating its preference for semi-urban environments where there is sufficient light and air circulation.