Phaeophyscia microspora Aptroot & Schumm
Creators: name: Niazi, Abdul Rehman
name: Afshan, Najam-ul-Sehar
name: Naseer, Arooj
name: Nadeem, Muhammad
name: Iftikhar, Fatima
name: Fayyaz, Iram
name: Ashraf, Asma
name: Imtiaz, Sawera
name: Fatima, Shahzadi Qamar
name: Khalid, Abdul Nasir
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Fungi
Ascomycota
Lecanoromycetes
Caliciales
Physciaceae
Phaeophyscia
Phaeophyscia microspora

description: Phaeophyscia microspora Aptroot & Schumm
(Fig. 3)
Virtuelles Herbarium de Flechtengattungen Hyperphyscia, Paeophyscia, Physcia und Physconia: 193 (Schumm & Aptroot 2019).
SPECIMENS EXAMINED. — Pakistan. Margalla Hills, Islamabad, 1604 m alt., on tree bark, 33°41’35”N, 73°03’50”E, 09.IV.2019, A. Ashraf, K. Habib & M. Usman, T5-02 (LAH[LAH37622]; GenBank[OQ024193]); Azad Jammu and Kashmir, District Bagh, 33.9259°N, 73.7810°E, 4734 m alt., on tree bark, 10.XI.2021, A. Naseer, B-04 (LAH[LAH37624]; GenBank[OQ073895]); Azad Jammu and Kashmir, District Bagh, 33°55’33.24”N, 73°46’51.6”E, 4734 m alt., on tree bark, 12.XI.2021, A. Naseer, B-05 (LAH[LAH37625]; GenBank[OQ073896]); Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Kaghan Valley, Shogran, 34°64’N, 73°46’E, 2362 m alt., on bark, 24.VIII.2021, A. R. Niazi & M. Nadeem, SN-1 (LAH [LAH37618]; GenBank[OP933725]); Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Kaghan Valley, Siri Paya, 33°71’N, 78°08’E, 3000 m alt., on tree bark, 26.VIII.2022, A. R. Niazi & M. Nadeem, BK-14 (LAH [LAH37617]; GenBank[OP933722]).
CHEMISTRY. — Thallus K-, C-, KC-, P-; no lichen substance detected by TLC.
HABITAT AND DISTRIBUTION. — Pakistani collections of this species are from humid to moist temperate, coniferous forest and scrub forest. The specimens were found on tree bark. The maximum daily temperature of the Himalaya region varies around 30-32°C during the summer, the average winter temperature is 4°C, while Margala Hills have an average maximum temperature of 34.3°C and minimum of 3.4°C with an average rainfall of 1200 mm per year.
DESCRIPTION
Thallus
Foliose, epiphloeodal, rust grey to pale grey, remaining unchanged when wet, loosely attached to substratum, very variable in size, 2-4 cm in diam.
Lobes
Densely, dichotomously or irregularly branched, without pruina, lobe tips creamy white, flat to strongly convex, imbricate, usually upturned near the tips, 0.5-1.5 mm wide.
Soralia and isidia
Absent.
Cortex
Dark brown, paraplectenchymatous, 18-23 µm thick.
Algal layer
28-34 µm thick.
Photobiont cells
Globose, 8-13 µm in diam.
Medulla
White.
Lower surface
Black, usually becoming pale to dark grey towards lobe tips, rhizinate.
Rhizines
Dense, black, simple, 1.3-2.5 mm long.
Lower cortex
Paraplectenchymatous, dark brown, 18-30 µm thick.
Apothecia
Abundant, usually present, 1.5-3 mm in diam., stipitate to very shortly stipitate, the margin entire or becoming regularly crenate, with prominent cortical hairs, epruinose or slightly pruinose.
Disc
Charcoal black, shiny, flat to strongly concave or sometimes convex.
Margins
Prominent, creamy to pale white.
Epihymenium
Light brown to orange, 18-24 µm.
Hymenium
Hyaline to creamy, 70-90 µm.
Hypothecium
Creamy white, 22-28 µm.
Ascus
Cylindrical to clavate, 45-55 ×12-14 µm.
Ascospores
Dark brown, ellipsoid, Physcia - type, 16-20 ×7.5-9 µm.
Paraphyses
Hyaline, branched and anastomosing, 1.7-2.8µm thick, wider at the apex, 3-4 µm thick.
Pycnidia
Not found.
description: Published as part of Niazi, Abdul Rehman, Afshan, Najam-ul-Sehar, Naseer, Arooj, Nadeem, Muhammad, Iftikhar, Fatima, Fayyaz, Iram, Ashraf, Asma, Imtiaz, Sawera, Fatima, Shahzadi Qamar & Khalid, Abdul Nasir, 2023, A new species and a new record of the genus Phaeophyscia Moberg (Lecanorales, Physciaceae) from Pakistan supported by phenotypic and molecular phylogenetic analyses, pp. 51-59 in Cryptogamie, Mycologie 20 (4) on pages 56-57, DOI: 10.5252/cryptogamie-mycologie2023v44a4, http://zenodo.org/record/7867201