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Tapellaria

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Tapellaria
Tapellaria phyllophila
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Ascomycota
Class: Lecanoromycetes
Order: Lecanorales
Family: Pilocarpaceae
Genus: Tapellaria
Müll.Arg. (1890)
Type species
Tapellaria herpetospora
Müll.Arg. (1890)
Synonyms[1]
  • Melittosporis Clem. (1909)
  • Mellitiosporiopsis Rehm (1900)
  • Pazschkea Rehm (1898)

Tapellaria is a genus of leaf-dwelling lichens in the family Pilocarpaceae.[2] These lichens form thin, paint-like crusts on their host surfaces and are found mainly in tropical regions of the Americas, with about twenty known species. The genus was first proposed in 1890 by the lichenologist Johannes Müller Argoviensis. Tapellaria lichens reproduce both sexually through small black disc-shaped structures and asexually through distinctive hood-shaped outgrowths that release thread-like spores.

Taxonomy

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The genus was circumscribed by the lichenologist Johannes Müller Argoviensis in 1890, with Tapellaria herpetospora assigned as the type species.[3] The combination of a chlorococcoid photobiont, black lecideine apothecia, Pilocarpaceae-type asci, muriform or transversely septate spores, and—most decisively—the hood-shaped campylidia with multi-septate thread-like conidia sets Tapellaria apart from superficially similar foliicolous genera such as Badimiella and Kantvilasia.[4]

Description

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Tapellaria forms a thin, paint-like crust (a crustose thallus) that sits flush against its leaf or bark substrate and never develops an outer skin (it is ecorticate). A separate prothallus—an early growth fringe visible in some lichens—is absent. Microscopic examination reveals a partner alga with spherical green cells 6–18 μm across; these chlorococcoid cells supply the lichen's photosynthetic energy.[4]

The sexual reproductive bodies are small, black apothecia that rest on the thallus surface, pinched slightly at the base. Their flattened discs remain plane for most of their life and may carry a faint grey or white dusting (pruina). Surrounding each disc is a low rim (the proper exciple) that is the same colour as the disc itself; in cross-section it resembles a shallow cup whose walls are built from dark-pigmented, brick-like cells. Inside, the clear (hyaline) hymenium stains blue with iodine (KI+), indicating the presence of starch-like compounds, and remains firmly gelatinous when treated with potassium hydroxide solution. Slender threads called paraphyses weave through this layer, repeatedly branching and re-joining without swollen tips.[4]

The asci are broad and club-shaped and conform to the Pilocarpaceae type: their walls stain a vivid blue in iodine, and the upper cap (tholus) is thickened and deeply amyloid, pierced by a narrow axial column. Each ascus contains one to eight colourless ascospores, either with several cross-walls (transversely septate) or with both cross- and longitudinal walls forming a brick-like (muriform) pattern; the spores are ellipsoid to cylindrical and lack any gelatinous envelope.[4]

Asexual propagation occurs in distinctive, hood-shaped outgrowths called campylidia. These tiny, erect structures sport in-rolled flaps that protect the spore-producing surface. They release long, thread-like (filiform) conidia divided by three to seven septa; the spores are often slightly curved and may detach with small algal cells attached, allowing the lichen to disperse as a ready-made symbiotic unit. No characteristic secondary metabolites have been detected in the genus.[4]

Ecology

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Ecologically, Tapellaria is almost entirely tropical, with about twenty recognised species centred in the Neotropics, and most species grow directly on living leaves (foliicolous).[4]

Species

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References

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  1. ^ "Synonymy: Tapellaria Müll. Arg., Lich. Epiph. Novi: 11 (1890)". Species Fungorum. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
  2. ^ "Tapellaria". Catalogue of Life. Species 2000: Leiden, the Netherlands. Retrieved 18 June 2025.
  3. ^ a b Müller-Argoviensis, J. (1890). Lichenes Epiphylli Novi (in Latin). H. Georg. p. 11.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Kantvilas, G. (2024). de Salas, M.F. (ed.). "Tapellaria, version 2024:1". Flora of Tasmania Online. Hobart: Tasmanian Herbarium, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.
  5. ^ Lumbsch, H.T.; Ahti, T.; Altermann, S.; De Paz, G.A.; Aptroot, A.; Arup, U.; et al. (2011). "One hundred new species of lichenized fungi: a signature of undiscovered global diversity" (PDF). Phytotaxa. 18 (1): 9–11. Bibcode:2011Phytx..18....1L. doi:10.11646/phytotaxa.18.1.1.
  6. ^ Santesson 1952, p. 498.
  7. ^ a b Kalb, K.; Vězda, A. (1987). "Einige nicht-foliicole Arten der Familie Ectolechiaceae (Lichenes) aus Brasilien". Folia Geobotanica et Phytotaxonomica (in German). 22 (3): 287–312. doi:10.1007/BF02854629.
  8. ^ a b c Thorold, C.A. (1952). "The epiphytes of Theobroma cacao in relation to the incidence of black-pod disease in Nigeria". Journal of Ecology. 40 (1): 125–142. doi:10.2307/2258025. JSTOR 2258025.
  9. ^ a b Lücking, Robert; Seavey, Frederick; Common, Ralph S.; Beeching, Sean Q.; Breuss, Othmar; Buck, William R.; et al. (2011). "The lichens of Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park, Florida: Proceedings from the 18th Tuckerman Workshop" (PDF). Bulletin of the Florida Museum of Natural History. 46 (4): 127–186. doi:10.58782/flmnh.sofw5435. Open access icon
  10. ^ Flakus, Adam; Lücking, Robert (2008). "New species and additional records of foliicolous lichenized fungi from Bolivia". The Lichenologist. 40 (5): 423–436. Bibcode:2008ThLic..40..423F. doi:10.1017/S0024282908007378.
  11. ^ Kalb, Klaus; Aptroot, André (2021). "New lichens from Africa" (PDF). Archive for Lichenology. 28: 1–12.
  12. ^ Cáceres, M.; Lücking, R. (2000). "Three new species and one new combination of foliicolous lichens and lichenicolous fungi from the Atlantic rainforest in Pernambuco state, Brazil". Nova Hedwigia. 70 (1–2): 217–226. Bibcode:2000NovaH..70..217C. doi:10.1127/nova.hedwigia/70/2000/217.
  13. ^ Lücking, R. (1999). "Verbesserungen zur Kenntnis der foliikolen Flechtenflora Costa Ricas. Die Familie Ectolechiaceae" [Advances in the knowledge of the foliicolous lichen flora of Costa Rica: the family Ectolechiaceae]. Phyton (in German). 39 (1): 131–165.
  14. ^ Santesson 1952, p. 502.
  15. ^ Lücking, R. (1999). "Foliicolous lichens and their lichenicolous fungi from Ecuador, with a comparison of lowland and montane rainforest". Willdenowia. 29 (1–2): 299–335. Bibcode:1999Willd..29..299L. doi:10.3372/wi.29.2924.
  16. ^ Santesson 1952, p. 507.
  17. ^ Santesson 1952, p. 499.
  18. ^ Neuwirth, Gerhard; Stocker-Wörgötter, Elfie (2017). "Tapellaria palaeotropica (Pilocarpaceae), a new foliicolous lichen species from the Seychelles, and a world key to the genus". The Lichenologist. 49 (3): 253–258. Bibcode:2017ThLic..49..253N. doi:10.1017/S0024282917000147.
  19. ^ Wang, Wei-Cheng; Sangvichien, Ek; Wei, Tie-Zheng; Wei, Jiang-Chun (2020). "A molecular phylogeny of Pilocarpaceae Zahlbr., including a new species of Tapellaria Müll. Arg. and new records of foliicolous lichenized fungi from Thailand". The Lichenologist. 52 (5): 377–385. Bibcode:2020ThLic..52..377W. doi:10.1017/S0024282920000328.
  20. ^ Santesson 1952, p. 500.
  21. ^ Vězda, A.; Poelt, J. (1998). "Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Flechtenflora des Himalaya I. Einige neue oder bemerkenswerte gyalectoide und foliicole Flechten". Nova Hedwigia. 47 (3–4): 415–427.
  22. ^ Kalb, K.; Hafellner, J. (1992). "Bemerkenswerte Flechten und lichenicole Pilze von der Insel Madeira". Herzogia (in German). 9 (1–2): 45–102. Bibcode:1992Herz....9...45K. doi:10.1127/herzogia/9/1992/45.

Cited literature

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  • Santesson, R. (1952). Foliicolous lichens. I. A revision of the taxonomy of the obligately foliicolous, lichenized fungi. Symbolae Botanicae Upsalienses. Vol. 12. pp. 1–590.
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