Lecanoropsis anopta (Nyl.) Ivanovich & Printzen, 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 : 29-30

Lecanoropsis anopta (Nyl.) Ivanovich & Printzen , comb. nov. Fig. 11A & B , 15F .

MycoBank nº: 847142

Basionym: Lecanora anopta Nyl. Flora 56 (19): 292 (1873).

Type:— FINLAND, South Häme = Hollola, Hersala. September 1872. J. P. Norrlin 1016. (H-NYL 26503!— lectotype, here designated)

Synonym: Lecanoropsis anopta (Nyl.) S. Y. Kondr., L. Lőkös et Farkas (2019: 154) , nom. illeg. (See Notes under Lecanoropsis in p. 14).

Thallus endosubstratal to episubstratal. When episubstratal, commonly effuse and amorphous, rarely well developed and continuous, verruculose to verrucose, warts hemispherical, sometimes forming conical areoles, pale whitish with or without a yellow tinge, usually beige or greyish brown-green. Photobiont a chlorococcoid/trebouxoid alga. Apothecia rounded to deformed or irregular, rarely becoming polygonal, sometimes fusing with neighbouring apothecia, single and scattered or in small groups, rarely completely covering the substrate, appressed to sessile, (0.37–)0.46–0.68(– 0.78) mm in diameter. Apothecial disc flat to convex and becoming subglobose and biatorine-like, usually ochre to reddish-brown and darkening into brown or dark grey/brown into black, more rarely pale beige or pale ochre, mainly matte to weakly glossy, commonly epruinose, rarely with a fine white pruina. Apothecial margin in young apothecia, thin and uneven in width, subrugose, raised. In old apothecia, thinning to becoming completely excluded giving its biatorine-like appearance, (0.01–)0.04–0.05(–0.08) mm wide, whitish-greyish, sometimes with a tinge of yellow or green. Amphithecium corticated basally, algal layer typically continuous and filling the amphithecium until the edge of the apothecia. Algal layer and inner edge of the cortex uncommonly with granules golden-brown. Amphithecial cortex almost nonexistant to very thin laterally (usually just a very thin layer of gel covering the algae), thick, even and gelatinized to heavily gelatinized basally, (16–)20–50(–59) µm wide basally, hyaline, rarely orange-brown. Parathecium indistinct or developed into an exciple that pushes the amphithecium to a basal position, hyaline to rarely pigmented brown. Epihymenium hyaline to faint to dark green or olive, containing Cinereorufa green. Covered by a thin layer of granules, sometimes inspersing into hymenium. Hymenium hyaline, golden brown sclerotized spores (guttulae) commonly present, (39–)44–50 (–56) µm. Subhymenial layers hyaline, formed by loosely arranged hyphae, (70–)78–139(–155) µm. Paraphyses simple to commonly branching and anastomosing, ca. 1.5–2 µm wide, apices noncapitate, ca. 2–2.5 µm wide, apical gel sheath up to 5 µm wide, usually pigmented faint olive-green. Spores ellipsoid, simple, hyaline, (7.7–)9.3–10.3(–11.9) × (3.4–)3.9–4.8(–6.8) µm. Conidia : Microconidia bacilliform, weakly curved, 5–7 × 1.5–2 µm; leptoconidia filiform, curved, 15–20 × 1–1.5 µm; Macro- and mesoconidia were not found.

Chemistry: Isousnic acid.

Substrate: Lignicolous, can be found also growing on exposed roots, sometimes corticolous on branches and twigs.

Ecology: Specimens studied were collected growing in a variety of open to semi-open forests, such as montane forest of Pseudotsuga menziesii , Abies concolor , Pinus ponderosa and Calocedrus decurrens ; or in open pinyonjuniper woodland composed typically of Juniperus , Pinus and Quercus species; also, on decorticated Pinus ponderosa root in a prairie close to a wetland. The Iranian specimen was collected in subalpine forest of Quercus macranthera with Acer and Zelkova . Commonly found between 700 and 2600 m alt, but also can occur at sea level.

Distribution: So far known from Fennoscandia, Central Europe, Iran and Western North America.

Notes: Lecanoropsis anopta is a distinctive member of Lecanoropsis due to a combination of several characters such as biatorine-like apothecia when old, becoming almost subglobose (a feature that is rarely present in old apothecia of L. albellula , L. latens , L. omissa and L. subcinctula ); it is one of the few members of Lecanoropsis that contain Cinereorufa -green in the epihymenium, occasionally streaking into the hymenium, and regularly contains golden-brown guttulae (sclerotized spores) within the asci. Another character to be considered is the hymenium shape and amphithecial cortex position in the apothecial cross-section: the cortex appears to be relegated at the bottom of the apothecia due to the hymenium pushing it and the algal layer downwards. One character remark is the slight difference among spore width found between studied L. anopta specimens collected in the US vs. the specimens coming from the Old World. Spore width of American specimens averaged 3.5–4.5 µm, whereas spore width of Eurasian specimens (including the Type) is on the 4–6 µm range. The latter spore width range coincides with measurements by Nylander and Hedlund in their respective descriptions for Lecanora anopta ( Nylander, 1873; Hedlund, 1892).

Selected specimens studied: IRAN. Golestan: Kordkuy Co. ca. 3 km from Derazno village, ca. 2430 m alt., 36° 39.6870’ N 54°8.1040’ E, 01 August 2018, M. Sohrabi & C. Printzen 15029 (FR-0362758; ICH) Lecanomics Code: 168; GERMANY. Schleswig-Holstein: Nordfriesland, Nord-Sylt Island, List, 2 m alt., 55°1.0397’ N 8°26.4063’ E, 20 September 2020, C. Dolnik 4671 (hb. Dolnik), Lecanomics Code: 1005; U.S.A. California: Sierra Co., Calpine, ca. 1 km N of turnoff to Calpine Lookout off of Hwy. 89, montane forest of Pseudotsuga menziesii , Abies concolor , Pinus ponderosa and Calocedrus decurrens , 1610 m alt., 39°41.22’ N 120°27.24’ W, 09 February 2018, J. Hollinger 18808 (FR-0362760; hb. Hollinger), Lecanomics Code: 994; Nevada: Elko Co., Independence Mts., North Fork Humboldt River, small old grove of Abies concolor and Populus tremuloides ca. 50 m above creek on N-facing siliceous slope surrounded by grassland, 2320 m alt., 41°33.588’ N 115°59.19’ W, 15 August 2017, J. Hollinger & N. Noell 17957 (FR-0362759; hb. Hollinger), Lecanomics Code: 990; Lincoln Co., Clover Mts., Docs Pass, 1900 m alt., 37°26.94’ N 114°5.82’ W, 31 May 2018, J. Hollinger 21661 (FR-0362761; hb. Hollinger), Lecanomics Code: 998; Nye Co., Quinn Canyon Range, 2550 m alt., 38°7.734’ N 115° 0.878’ W, 01 August 2019, J. Hollinger 22736 (FR-0362762; hb. Hollinger), Lecanomics Code: 1001; Utah: San Juan Co. Manti-La Sal National Forest, 2560 m alt., 37°53.904’ N 109°30.888’ W, 06 April 2018, S. Leavitt 18.081 (FR-0362763; BRY-C), Lecanomics Code: 405; Washington: Spokane Co. Turnbull, 700 m alt., 47°26.3819’ N 117°34.4047’ W, 16 August 2016, J. Hollinger 14451g (FR-0362764; hb. Hollinger), Lecanomics Code: 984.

Figures

FIGURE 11. Lecanoropsis anopta (A & B), L. latens (C & D) and L. pseudosarcopidoides (E & F). A, Finland, Tavastia australis. J.P. Norrlin 1016 (H9511537, syntype), habitus.B, Same specimen as A, apothecial section in LCB. C, USA, California, C. Printzen 4568 (FR- 0211779, isotype), habitus. D, same specimen as C, apothecial section in LCB. E, Italy, Trentino, P. van den Boom 10793 (B600187274, holotype), habitus. F, same specimen as E, apothecial section in LCB. Scales: A, C & E = 500 µm; B, D & F = 20 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.