Lecanoropsis iapyx Ivanovich & Hollinger, 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 : 19-20

Lecanoropsis iapyx Ivanovich & Hollinger , sp. nov. Fig. 6 and 15B .

MycoBank nº: 847148

Type:— U. S. A. Montana: Musselshell Co., 1083 m alt., 46° 33.1151’ N 108° 35.8609’ W, 13 September 2016, B. McCune 37125 (FR-0183034!— holotype). Lecanomics Code: 267.

Diagnosis: Thallus mainly endosubstratal; apothecial disc ochre to dark brown, flat to weakly convex; apothecial margin whitish, thick and becoming unevenly excluded, but persistent in old apothecia; macroconidia reniform; producing isousnic acid.

Thallus mostly endosubstratal, poorly developed,and when present, concentrated around apothecia, smooth to verrucose, beige to dark brown. Photobiont a chlorococcoid/trebouxoid alga. Apothecia rounded to sometimes deformed, very abundant, sometimes almost completely covering the substrate, rarely appressed, normally sessile, (0.45–)0.50–0.67(– 0.70) mm. Apothecial disc flat to weakly convex, rarely weakly concave, ochre to reddish or dark brown, rarely weakly glossy, generally epruinose, uncommonly with a white fine to coarse pruina. Apothecial margin when young, thick, smooth to subrugose, raised. On older discs sometimes unevenly receding and forming hemispherical warts, thin but persistent, subrugose, (0.02–)0.04–0.08(–0.12) mm in diam. Whitish-greyish to slightly darkening into beige. Amphithecium mostly filled with algae, and sparsely inspersed with golden-brown granules. Amphithecial cortex underdeveloped, sometimes ecorticated, moderately gelatinized (8–)11–20(–28) µm wide laterally, (8–)13–20(–28) µm wide basally, hyaline. Parathecium not distinguishable. Epihymenium typically golden-brown, possibly containing Leptocline -brown (see Notes below); usually with a thick epipsamma of golden-brown granules that dissolve in KOH; rarely hyaline. Hymenium hyaline, heavily inspersed with golden granules, (35–)40–50 (–55) µm. Subhymenial layers hyaline, (65–)95–135(–155) µm. Paraphyses rarely branching and anastomosing, segments short and stout in appearance, ca. 1.5–1.7 µm wide, apices not to weakly capitate, 1.7–2.0 µm wide, apical gel sheaths, ca. 3.5 µm wide. Spores ellipsoid, simple, hyaline, (6.0–)9.0–11.0(–13.5) × (3.0–)3.5–4.0(–4.5) µm. Conidia : Macroconidia reniform, 7–8.5 × 1.5–3 µm; other types of conidia were not found.

Chemistry: Isousnic acid (major).

Substrate: Lignicolous, on conifer wood and on wooden planks/fence posts.

Ecology: Commonly in oak and pine conifer woodland in semi-open areas, but also collected in heavily grazed open pastures, between 800 and 2500 m alt.

Distribution: Western U.S.A. (Arizona, California, Oregon, Montana, Nevada).

Notes: This species was treated as Lecanora sp. B by Ivanovich et al. (2021). Lecanoropsis iapyx is very similar to the European Lecanoropsis saligna . However, L. iapyx can be distinguished from L. saligna by reniform macroconidia with obtuse tips, whereas those in L. saligna are crescent-shaped with acute tips, and by epihymenial pigment reaction and chemistry. Both species produce a brown epihymenial pigment, but the K-reaction after N in L. saligna is brown, whereas in L. iapyx , the pigment colour changes to yellow-orange. Following Meyer and Printzen (2000), the epihymenial pigment in L. iapyx keys out as Leptocline -brown. However, Leptocline -brown is described as being dark red-brown in water and intensely red-brown in HCl. The pigment in L. iapyx is neither red-brown in water, nor is it intensely red-brown in HCl as stated in the cited key. Instead, it becomes rather orange-brown in HCl, and dissolves into a yellow solution in KOH (see Table 4). Both L. iapyx and L. saligna produce isousnic acid as major compound; however, neousnic acid is occasionally present in L. saligna , but has not been detected in the L. iapyx specimens studied by us.

Etymology: Iapyx is the name of a Greek god of north-west/west-north-west wind. The name refers to the position of its distributional area in Western North America.

Additional specimens studied: U.S.A. Arizona: Greenlee Co., Apache National Forest, Juan Miller Canyon campground, along the Blue river ., ca. 1740 m, 33º16’ N 109º21’ W, 06 June 1998, T. H. Nash III 41796 ( ASU) ; California: Los Angeles Co., Transverse Range, San Bernardino Mts. , 2439 m alt., 34°10.3784’N 116°43.0867’W, 01 November 2013, K. Knudsen 16266 & J. Kocourková (NY-2100403), Lecanomics code: 285 ; 34°10.3784’N 116° 43.0867’W, 01 November 2013, K. Knudsen 16266 & J. Kocourková (NY-2100404), Lecanomics code: 286 ; 34° 10.3784’N 116°43.0867’W, 01 November 2013, K. Knudsen 16266 & J. Kocourková (NY-2100405), Lecanomics code: 287 ; San Gabriel Mts., Big rock Creek , 1233 m alt., 34°25.2800’N 117°50.3933’W, 05 February 2012, K. Knudsen 14606 & E. Tripp (NY-1237153), Lecanomics code: 284 ; Santa Clara Co., Blue Oak Ranch reserve , 770 m alt., 37°23.7120’ N 121°44.4780’ W, 27 January 2018, J. Hollinger & K. Kellman 18735 (FR-0362730; hb. Hollinger), Lecanomics code: 993 ; Nevada: Nye Co., Quinn Canyon Range , 2512 m alt., 38°7.5480’ N 115°40.8600’ W, 01 August 2019, J. Hollinger 22735 (FR-0362731; hb. Hollinger), Lecanomics code: 1000 ; Oregon, Jackson Co., southern slope of Sampson Creek Preserve, east of Emigrant Lake , 824 m alt., 42°9.1536’N 122°33.9942’W, 01 April 2017, B. McCune 37360 (FR-0362732; hb. McCune), Lecanomics code: 269 .

Figures

FIGURE 6. Lecanoropsis iapyx. A, habitus. B, apothecial section in LCB. C, macroconidia in Phloxine B. Specimens: A & B = U.S.A., Montana, B. McCune 37125 (holotype – FR-0183034; L267); C = B. McCune 37360 (FR-0362732; L269). 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.