Lecidea degeliana Hertel, 1970

Westberg, Martin, Timdal, Einar, Asplund, Johan, Bendiksby, Mika, Reidar Haugan,, Jonsson, Fredrik, Larsson, Per, Odelvik, Goeran, Wedin, Mats & Millanes, Ana M., 2015, New records of lichenized and lichenicolous fungi in Scandinavia, MycoKeys 11, pp. 33-61 : 39-41

Lecidea degeliana Hertel, 1970

Lecidea degeliana Hertel. Herzogia 2: 41. 1970.

Holotype.

NORWAY, Troms: [Harstad, Hinnøy], Sandtorg Nordvik, ad saxum micacei-schistosum aeneum fuscinigrum tinctum. 14 July 1953, G. Degelius ( UPS L-108141!).

Distribution.

New to Sweden. Lecidea degeliana was described by Hertel (1970) from material collected by Degelius in northern Norway. Degelius himself ( 1982) reported a second find from the island of Vega in northern Norway but no further localities was mentioned by Hertel (1995) and we have not found any other literature reports of this species although collections have slowly been accumulating in the herbarium in Oslo. During an excursion to Sør-Trøndelag in Norway 2012, Swedish lichenologists had the opportunity to study the species in the field, and it was thereafter discovered in the Abisko area in northern Sweden in 2013 and on a second locality a few kilometers from the first in 2014. The species is so far only known from Scandinavia.

This small species may easily be overlooked or mistaken for a poorly developed L. fuscoatra . It is, however, a quite distinct species once discovered. The species is initially developing as a parasite on Acarospora spp. (Fig. 6 ). The thallus of L. degeliana is areolate, up to 3 mm wide, and frequently fertile with black, rounded or angular apothecia that are immersed in, or somewhat raised from the areoles; up to 0.2-0.6(-0.7) mm diam. In the microscope the apothecia have a greenish or bluish green hymenium, a black or greenish black epihymenium, and a dark brown hypothecium. The excipulum has a yellowish inner part, and the outer part is dark grey. The ascospores are ellipsoid-subglobose, 5.5-7 × 4-5 µm in the studied samples. The thallus contains the gyrophoric acid syndrome ( Hertel 1995); thallus cortex in section K-, C+ red, excipulum in section K-, C- or C+ red.

Hertel (1968) described Lecidea grummannii from Kärnten, Austria, another species growing parasitically on small brown Acarospora sp. That species is as far as we know only known from the type. According to Hertel (1995), L. grummannii differs from L. degeliana in having broader spores (5.2-5.5 vs 3.5-5.5 µm in L. degeliana ), a paler hypothecium, (pale brown vs dark to blackish brown); a blue-green epithecium (vs olive- or greyish green in L. degeliana ) and a paler thallus (cream coloured-whitish to beige vs beige to pale brown). In our experience of L. degeliana these characters are not so clear-cut and only the dark brown hypothecium seem to be a consistently different character compared to the description of L. grummannii .

Lecidea degeliana has mostly been found on calcareous rocks in exposed, subalpine habitats but also on siliceous and iron-containing rocks. There seem to be several different species of Acarospora involved as hosts but they are often sterile and mostly unidentified by us. They all belong to the small brown species of Acarospora s. str., and are in one case identified as A. versicolor through sequencing of the ITS and in another case tentatively identified morphologically as A. rugulosa .

Specimens examined.

NORWAY. Hedmark: Ringsaker, the islet Holmen S of Helgøya in lake Mjøsa, 60°43'N, 11°01'E, alt. 125-130 m. 11 Apr. 1982, Timdal 3230 ( O L-37925), TLC: gyrophoric acid; Ringsaker, Helgøya, the islet Holmen in lake Mjøsa, 60°43'N, 11°01'E, alt. 125 m. 27 March 1994, Haugan 3699 ( O L-37924); Nordland: Vega, Vega Is., Holand, Exposed blasted rock (clay schist) at the road near Kirköy. 4 July 1979, Degelius V-2406 ( UPS L-143256); Oppland: Dovre, Verkensætri, rock outcrop by the houses, 62°03.8 'N, 9°32.7 'E, alt. 1010-1020 m. Calciferous schist. 3 July 1995, Haugan & Timdal 8035 ( O L-15096); Dovre, Hjelle, 62°03.21'N, 9°08.40'E, alt. 650 m. 10 Aug. 2010, Timdal 11757 ( O L-163814); Lom, Runningsgrende, Klypa. Alt. 720-850 m. 61.7158°N, 8.2342°E. 28 June 2013, Westberg ( S F265203), Lunner, Råsted, 60°18'N, 10°37'E, alt. 330 m. S-facing, steep rock face. 19 June 1983, Timdal 3844 ( O L-37926), TLC: gyrophoric acid; Vågå, hill E of Svarthåmårbekken, 61°52.10'N, 8°59.21'E, alt. 690 m. 30 June 2013, Bendiksby, Haugan & Timdal 12978 ( O L-184391); Westberg ( S F265204). SWEDEN. Torne Lappmark: Jukkasjärvi par., Björkliden, N side of the river Rakkasjohka, just N of the trail from Björkliden Fjällby to Nuolja, alt. 495 m. 68.4053°N, 18.6698°E. 6 Aug. 2013, Westberg ( S F265201); Björkliden, just W of the road E10 at its crossing over the river Rakkasjohka. 68.4029°N, 18.6944°E. 6 July 2014, Westberg VAR152 ( S F265198).

Figures

Figure 6. Lecidea degeliana. a With the host, Acarospora sp., still visible (S F 265204) b Independent thallus (S F 265201). Scale: 1 mm.