Lecanoropsis coracina Ivanovich, Otte & Sheehy, 2025

Ivanovich, Cristóbal, Weber, Lilith, Palice, Zdeněk, Hollinger, Jason, Otte, Volker, Sohrabi, Mohammad, Sheehy, Steve & Printzen, Christian, 2025, A taxonomic revision of the lichen genus Lecanoropsis (Lecanoraceae), Phytotaxa 695 (1), pp. 1-56 : 17-19

Lecanoropsis coracina Ivanovich, Otte & Sheehy , sp. nov. Fig. 5 and 15E .

MycoBank nº: 847147

Type:— U. S. A. Oregon: Klamath Co., Klamath Marsh, Windmill Point , 1521 m alt., 42° 59.0969’ N 121° 38.4325’ W, 24 June 2020, S. Sheehy 1666 (FR-0183036!— holotype; ASU, BRY, FH, H, OSC, PRA, UPS — isotypes). Lecanomics Code: 1136 .

Diagnosis: Thallus well-developed episubstratal whitish-beige; apothecia flexuose, apothecial disc commonly black, apothecial margin whitish; pycnidia large, hemispherical shiny black, semi-immersed in thallus; macroconidia straight to weakly reniform; producing isousnic and neousnic acid.

Thallus well developed, continuous to rimose to areolate, forming aggregated conical areoles from which large, glossy, black, spherical-ovoid pycnidia arise, whitish beige. European specimen with poorly developed, amorphous, effuse, beige thallus. Photobiont a chlorococcoid/trebouxoid alga. Apothecia rounded to strongly deformed, flexuose, more rarely polygonal, single to forming tight groups to almost completely covering the substrate, sessile, (0.53–)0.60– 1.04(–1.20) mm. Apothecial disc flat to convex, black, occasionally brown, rarely beige to blackened, weakly glossy (glossy in the European specimen), normally epruinose, rarely with a fine white pruina. Apothecial margin in young apothecia, thick, raised, smooth to subrugose/crenulate, in old apothecia thinner to almost disappearing and level with the disc, (0.03–)0.05–0.1(–0.13) mm wide. Whitish and concolourous with the thallus. Amphithecium usually inspersed with a thin layer of dark-brown granules, algal layer filling up the majority of the amphithecium, almost reaching the surface near the hymenium/parathecium. Amphithecial cortex very thin to ecorticated laterally, widening at the base, gelatinized, laterally (6–)12–20(–31) µm; basally (12–)20–94(–126) µm wide, hyaline. Parathecium variable, from not apparent to protruding, usually pigmented dark-green. Epihymenium dark green, somewhat olivaceous, sometimes almost black, containing Cinereorufa -green. Usually covered by a thin epipsamma of orange-golden to dark brown granules. Hymenium hyaline, usually inspersed with granules from the epihymenium, (31–)36–66(–71) µm high. Subhymenial layers hyaline, sometimes inspersed with epipsamma granules from the epihymenium, (47–)55–126(– 155) µm high. Paraphyses simple to commonly branching in middle to upper portion, rarely anastomosing, 1.5–2.5 µm wide, weakly capitate, apices 2.5–3.5 µm wide, gel sheaths at apices ca. 3–6 µm, some pigmented dark green/brown/ olivaceous. Spores narrowly ellipsoid, simple, very rarely 1-septate, hyaline, (7.7–)8.5–14.2(–15.3) × (2.5–)3–4(–5) µm. Pycnidia conspicuous, ovoid-spherical, immersed to sessile, black, generally shiny, more rarely matte. Conidia : Macroconidia straight to weakly reniform 6–9 × 1.5–3 µm; microconidia bacilliform to weakly curved 7–9 × 1 µm; meso- and leptoconidia were not found.

Chemistry: Isousnic and neousnic acid (majors).

Substrate: Lignicolous, on dead wood of Picea or rotting logs of Pinus contorta . Ecology: American specimens were collected on dead wood or rotting logs in contact with soil in marshland surrounded by Pinus forests at an elevation of 1521 m; and growing on wood fences in conifer forests above 2000 m. The European specimen was collected in high-montane Picea forest at 1200 m.

Distribution: Western U.S. A, including the Cascade Mountains of Northern California and Oregon; The Basin and Range area of the Pacific Northwest of U.S.A.; the Kaibab Plateau in Arizona and the Rocky Mts. region in Colorado. One specimen was found in the Karkonosze National Park, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Poland.

Notes: Several collectors independently identified this taxon as Lecanora mughicola , since the apothecia of Lecanoropsis coracina are similar in coloration. However, L. coracina has much more convex and flexuose apothecia, whereas the apothecia of L. mughicola tend to be flat, commonly polygonal, its margins tend to be persistent in old apothecia, and it has a poorly developed thallus. Lecanoropsis crassithallina has a thallus similar in thickness to L. coracina , however, L. crassithalina differs by producing paler, smaller apothecia of max. 0.6 mm ( van den Boom, 2007), whereas those of L. coracina are commonly dark brown to black and larger than 0.6 mm. Lecanoropsis crassithallina also differs by oblong-straight macroconidia, and a larger variety of secondary metabolites such as isousnic acid, 7-O-methylnorascomatic acid (minor), atranorin (trace), usnic acid (trace), only sharing isousnic acid as major metabolite with L. coracina .

It is possible that herbarium material from North America determined as Lecanora mughicola actually belongs to Lecanoropsis coracina (see Discussion in p. 51).

Etymology: coracina , in Latin, means “raven–black” in relation to the colour of the pycnidia and the overall dark to jet-black apothecia.

Additional specimens studied: POLAND. Lower Silesian Voivodeship: Jelenia Góra, Karkonosze Mts. , 1200 m, 50°46.0734’ N 15°41.5832’ E, 09 July 2016, V. Otte 49146 ( GLM), Lecanomics code: 1106 ; U.S.A. Arizona: Coconino Co., Near East Lake on the Kaibab Plateau north of the Grand Canyon , ca. 17 km S of Jacob Lake, 2620 m, 36°34’ N 112°04’ W, 19 July 1983, T. H. Nash III 21111 ( ASU) ; California: Los Angeles Co., Angeles National Forest: Survey 8, behind (below) Eagles Rost Sand Shed Hwy 2, 1975 m, 34º22’ N 117º53’ W, 11 October 1989, B. Ryan 26 ( ASU) ; Colorado: Larimer Co., Rocky Mt. National Park, Cow Creek Valley north of Lumpy Ridge and the Needles, from Park border up to Bridal Veil Falls , Locality 3, A. B. L. S. Foray, 2440–2680 m, 40º25’30” –26’ N 105 º31–33’ W, 03 August 1984, B. Ryan 12188 ( ASU) ; Oregon: Klamath Co., near Windmill Point, Klamath Marsh , 1521 m, 42° 59.0312’ N 121°38.2190’ W, 09 September 2020, S. Sheehy ( FR), Lecanomics code: 1135 .

Figures

FIGURE 5. Lecanoropsis coracina. A, habitus. B, apothecial section in LCB. C, macroconidia in Phloxine B. All from U.S.A., Oregon, S. Sheehy (FR-0183036; L1136). Scales:A = 500 µm; B = 20 µm; C = 10 µm.

FIGURE 15. Macroconidia, Lecanoropsis albellula (A), L.iapyx (B), L.subsaligna (C), L.micans (D), L.coracina (E), and L. anoptizodes (F). A, Germany, Bayern, R. Cezanne & M. Eichler 11522 (FR-0362757; L521); leptoconidia also present. B, USA, Oregon, B. McCune 37360 (FR-0362732; L269). C, Czech Republic, Karlovarský kraj, Z. Palice 27662 (FR-0362808; L581). D, USA. Oregon, B. McCune 29514 (FR-0362734; L266). E, U.S.A., Oregon, S. Sheehy (FR-0183036; L1136). F, Slovakia. Žilinský kraj, P. Czarnota, A. Guttová, J. Halda & Z. Palice 12247 (FR-0264511).All conidia were stained with Phloxine B. Scales: A–F = 10 µm.