Aspicilia verrucigera Hue Nouv. Arch.
Creators: name: Szczepańska, Katarzyna
name: Kukwa, Martin
name: Guzow-Krzemińska, Beata
name: Urbaniak, Jacek
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Fungi
Ascomycota
Lecanoromycetes
Pertusariales
Megasporaceae
Aspicilia
Aspicilia verrucigera

description: Aspicilia verrucigera Hue Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. 5 sér. 2: 48. 1912.
≡ Lecanora verrucigera (Hue) Zahlbr., Cat. Lich. Univ. 5: 357. 1928.
(Fig. 1C)
Thallus lichenized, crustose, thick, areolate to verrucose, dark grey, rarely with dark brown or yellowish-brown tint, matt. Areoles flat to convex, irregular, very thick, with a partially squamulose or warted surface, 0.5–2.0 mm in diam. Prothallus usually indistinct, black. Apothecia immersed, 1 to 5 per areole, 0.3–1.0 mm in diam., thalline margin indistinct or thin, on the disc level, smooth, concolorous with thallus, disc rounded to irregular, black, flat to slightly convex, very rarely pruinose, matt. Hymenium colourless, 90–150 μm tall, with submoniliform paraphyses (3–4 globose apical cells), epihymenium green-brown to olive-brown, N+ green intensifying, K+ yellowish brown (Caesiocinerea-green), hypothecium colourless. Asci 8-spored, ascospores hyaline, simple, ellipsoid, 16–23 × 8–13 μm. Conidia filiform, 12–23 × 1 μm.
Chemistry: Aspicilia verrucigera contains stictic (major) and norstictic (minor) acids in the cortex (Owe-Larsson et al. 2007). However, in some Polish specimens (UGDA L-11099, KRA-443, Hb. Szczepańska 1272, 1273), cryptostictic, connorstictic and constictic acids (all minor) have also been detected.
Ecology and distribution: Aspicilia verrucigera is a rare species occurring in temperate to boreal and alpine areas of Asia, Europe and North America (Owe-Larsson et al. 2007, Shu-Xia et al. 2013). It has been reported from only a few countries, including Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden (Vitikainen et al. 1997; Aptroot et al. 1999; Søchting & Alstrup 2008; Roux 2012; Wirth et al. 2013; Westberg et al. 2021), USA, Canada (Esslinger 2016) and China (Shu-Xia et al. 2013). Aspicilia verrucigera has not previously been reported from Poland. However, after revision of the available Aspicilia material, a few specimens of this species were found in Polish herbaria, as well as newly collected specimens from northern and southern Poland. It is known from scattered localities, in both the lowlands and low mountain areas of the country.
This species occurs on siliceous rocks and boulders in open and well-lit locations.
Notes: The Polish specimens of A. verrucigera were usually incorrectly identified as Circinaria caesiocinerea (Nyl. ex Malbr.) A. Nordin, Savić & Tibell or, rarely, as Aspicilia laevata (Ach.) Arnold. Circinaria caesiocinerea and A. verrucigera may have been confused because of the similarity in their preferred habitats, as well as the appearance of the thallus, which is rather thick, areolate and grey. However, both taxa can be easily distinguished based on the secondary lichen metabolites: A. verrucigera always contains stictic acid, whereas C. caesiocinerea produces aspicilin (Owe-Larsson et al. 2007; Fletcher et al. 2009; Wirth et al. 2013). In the case of A. laevata, the main difference is the habitat because this species grows in shady and moist places, usually in mixed forests or close to streams and rivers. In addition, the thallus of A. laevata is thinner than in A. verrucigera, smooth and irregularly cracked rather than areolate, and has a greenish tint (Wirth 1995; Fletcher et al. 2009; Wirth et al. 2013).
The nucITS marker was sequenced from three specimens (Table 1), which shared 99.79 or 99.65% identity with the sequences of A. verrucigera deposited in GenBank originated from the Czech Republic and Sweden (Table 2, data for A. verrucigera). In addition, two mtSSU rDNA sequences from specimens of A. verrucigera (Table 1) showed 100% identity with the sequence from the Czech Republic (OK465538).
Material examined: POLAND. Dolnośląskie province: Sudety Mts, Złote Mts, ruins of the castle Karpień, elev. c. 775 m, on gneiss rock, 25 October 2015, K. Szczepańska 1036 (Hb. Szczepańska); Sudety Mts, Karkonosze Mts, Szklarska Poręba town, Marianki rocks, elev. 700 m, on granite rocks, 21 June 2018, K. Szczepańska 1272, 1273 (Hb. Szczepańska); Śląskie province: Karpaty Mts, Beskidy Zachodnie Mts, Beskid Mały Mts, Bujakowska Mt, elev. c. 600 m, on the southern slope on the small wall, 23 August 1960, J. Nowak (KRAM L-7499); Karpaty Mts, Beskid Żywiecki Mts, Grupa Pilska Range, Żabnica Duża village, Tokarnia settlement, elev. 780 m, on a sandstone block in a loose wall, 28 September 1964, J. Nowak (KRAM L-16657); Beskid Żywiecki Mts, Młada Hora settlement near Soblówka village, elev. 960 m, on piles of sandstone boulders, 26 September 1986, J. Nowak (KRAM L-30388); Małopolskie province: Karpaty Mts, Beskid Sądecki Mts, Radziejowa Range, Szczawnicka Rock, elev. 1160 m, on sandstone rocks in full sun, 1 September 1990, L. Śliwa (KRA-443); Świętokrzyskie province: Świętokrzyskie Mts, Świnia Góra Nature Reserve near Bliżyn village, on sandstone rocks in a forest clearing, 5 May 1959, J. Nowak (KRAM L-5394, 5363); Świętokrzyskie Mts, Klonowskie Range, Klonów village, on sandstone rock, 1980, A. Kowalczyk, K. Toborowicz (KTC); Świętokrzyskie Mts, Cisowskie Range, 0.7 km south of Września Mt, on siliceous rock, 1981, S. Cieśliński, B. Łyś (KTC); Lubuskie province: Kaszubskie Lakeland, near the Stone Circles (burial mounds) in Borcz village, on a granite stone in bright forest, 7 March 2004, M. Kukwa 2916 (UGDA L-11099); Kaszubskie Lakeland, Kaszubski Park Krajobrazowy, south-west of Uniradze village, forest section no. 49, oak-beech forest, on stone, 11 August 2020, M. Kukwa 21284, 21285, 21286, A. Kowalewska (UGDA L-43555, 43556, 43557); Zachodniopomorskie province: Polanowska Upland, Baranowiec forest district, on a silicate rock by the road at the edge of the meadow, 19 October 1979, I. Izydorek (SLTC); Pomorskie province: Bory Tucholskie, Kręgi Kamienne Nature Reserve, north-west of Odry village, on erratic blocks in the circle, 12 June 2018, M. Kukwa 19950, 19956a (UGDA L-25370, 25383); Bory Tucholskie, Kręgi Kamienne Nature Reserve, north-west of Odry village, on erratic blocks in the circle, 19 June 2018 M. Kukwa 19972, 19972a, 19979a (UGDA L-25405, 25406, 25415).
description: Published as part of Szczepańska, Katarzyna, Kukwa, Martin, Guzow-Krzemińska, Beata & Urbaniak, Jacek, 2023, New and rare lichens of the family Megasporaceae discovered in Poland, pp. 133-144 in Phytotaxa 598 (2) on page 138, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.598.2.3, http://zenodo.org/record/7961063