''Biatora pacifica'' is a species of

corticolous This glossary of mycology is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to mycology, the study of fungi. Terms in common with other fields, if repeated here, generally focus on their mycology-specific meaning. Related terms can be found ...

(bark-dwelling),

crustose lichen Crustose lichens are lichens that form a crust which strongly adheres to the Substrate (biology), substrate (soil, rock, tree bark, etc.), making separation from the substrate impossible without destruction. The basic structure of crustose lichen ...

in the family

Ramalinaceae The Ramalinaceae are a family of lichen-forming fungi in the order Lecanorales. First proposed by Carl Adolph Agardh in 1821, the family now comprises 63 genera and about 750 species. Ramalinaceae lichens exhibit diverse growth forms, includin ...

. It is found in Russia, Japan, and South Korea, where it grows along the

Pacific coast Pacific coast may be used to reference any coastline that borders the Pacific Ocean. Geography Americas North America Countries on the western side of North America have a Pacific coast as their western or south-western border. One of th ...

. It inhabits the bark of a variety of

coniferous Conifers () are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a sin ...

and

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

plants.

Taxonomy

The species was

formally described A species description is a formal scientific description of a newly encountered species, typically articulated through a scientific publication. Its purpose is to provide a clear description of a new species of organism and explain how it differ ...

as new to science in 2016 by lichenologists Christian Printzen, Tor Tønsberg, and Göran Thor. The

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular wikt:en:specimen, specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally associated. In other words, a type is an example that serves to ancho ...

was collected on

Moneron Island Moneron Island, (, , , Ainu: ) is a small island off Sakhalin Island. It is a part of the Russian Federation. Description Moneron has an area of about and a highest point of . It is approximately long (N/S axis) by wide, and is located ...

(

Nevelsky District Nevelsky District is the name of several administrative and municipal districts in Russia: *Nevelsky District, Pskov Oblast, an administrative and municipal district of Pskov OblastLaw #833-oz *Nevelsky District, Sakhalin Oblast, an administrativ ...

Sakhalin Sakhalin ( rus, Сахали́н, p=səxɐˈlʲin) is an island in Northeast Asia. Its north coast lies off the southeastern coast of Khabarovsk Krai in Russia, while its southern tip lies north of the Japanese island of Hokkaido. An islan ...

) at an elevation between ; there, the lichen was found growing on bark at the base of an old ''

Abies sachalinensis ''Abies sachalinensis'', the Sakhalin fir, is a species of conifer in the family Pinaceae. It is found in Sakhalin island and southern Kurils (Russia), and also in northern Hokkaido (Japan). The first discovery by a European was by Carl Friedr ...

'' tree. The

species epithet Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany) ...

''pacifica'' refers to its distribution along the Pacific Coast.

Description

The whitish to greenish-grey thallus surface of ''Biatora pacifica'' is thick, rough, and crumbling, (''tartareous'') with warts, and in rare instances forms

areoles In botany, areoles are small light- to dark-colored bumps on cacti out of which grow clusters of spines. Areoles are important diagnostic features of cacti, and identify them as a family distinct from other succulent plants. Gordon Rowley - Wh ...

that are 0.1–0.25 mm in diameter. It lacks a visible

hypothallus In true slime molds (myxogastria), lichens, and in species of the family Clavicipitaceae, the hypothallus is the layer on which the fruit body sits, lying in contact with the substrate. The word is derived from the Ancient Greek root ''hypó'' ("un ...

, as well as the vegetative propagules

isidia An isidium (plural: isidia) is a tiny, wart- or finger-like outgrowth on the thallus surface of certain lichen species. It is one of two principal types of vegetative reproduction, vegetative reproductive structures in lichens, the other being ...

and

soredia Soredia are common reproduction, reproductive structures of lichens. Lichens asexual reproduction, reproduce asexually by employing simple fragmentation and production of soredia and isidia. Soredia are powdery propagules composed of fungus, fung ...

. The

photobiont A lichen ( , ) is a hybrid colony of algae or cyanobacteria living symbiotically among filaments of multiple fungus species, along with yeasts and bacteria embedded in the cortex or "skin", in a mutualistic relationship.

partner of the lichen is chlorococcoid (i.e.,

green algae The green algae (: green alga) are a group of chlorophyll-containing autotrophic eukaryotes consisting of the phylum Prasinodermophyta and its unnamed sister group that contains the Chlorophyta and Charophyta/ Streptophyta. The land plants ...

with a coccoid or spherical shape), with individual algal cells measuring 5–13

μm The micrometre (Commonwealth English as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: μm) or micrometer (American English), also commonly known by the non-SI term micron, is a unit of length in the International System ...

in diameter.

Apothecia An ascocarp, or ascoma (: ascomata), is the fruiting body ( sporocarp) of an ascomycete phylum fungus. It consists of very tightly interwoven hyphae and millions of embedded asci, each of which typically contains four to eight ascospores. As ...

are typically abundant and occur singly on the thallus. They are usually about 0.42–0.80 mm in diameter (with an observed maximum of 1.6 mm). The disc is dark grey or olive brown, flat to slightly convex, and roughly the same level as the apothecial margin. Asci contains eight spores and are of the ''Biatora''-type. The

ascospore In fungi, an ascospore is the sexual spore formed inside an ascus—the sac-like cell that defines the division Ascomycota, the largest and most diverse Division (botany), division of fungi. After two parental cell nucleus, nuclei fuse, the ascu ...

s are usually colourless and most lack a

septum In biology, a septum (Latin language, Latin for ''something that encloses''; septa) is a wall, dividing a Body cavity, cavity or structure into smaller ones. A cavity or structure divided in this way may be referred to as septate. Examples Hum ...

(rarely, some spores have a single septum), with typical dimensions of 9.6–12.1 by 3.0 –3.5 μm.

Thin-layer chromatography Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) is a chromatography technique that separates components in non-volatile mixtures. It is performed on a TLC plate made up of a non-reactive solid coated with a thin layer of adsorbent material. This is called the sta ...

revealed the presence of an unidentified

xanthone Xanthone is an organic compound with the molecular formula C13H8O2. It is a white solid. In 1939, xanthone was introduced as an insecticide and it currently finds uses as ovicide for codling moth eggs and as a larvicide. Xanthone is also use ...

compounds in ''Biatora pacifica'' Also, an unidentified olive-green

pigment A pigment is a powder used to add or alter color or change visual appearance. Pigments are completely or nearly solubility, insoluble and reactivity (chemistry), chemically unreactive in water or another medium; in contrast, dyes are colored sub ...

is present in the apothecial tissue. The authors notes a resemblance to '' Ivanpisutia oxneri'', but that species has smaller ascospores and a different chemistry. They proposed that ''Biatora pacifica'' is an esorediate (i.e., lacking soredia) counterpart of ''

Biatora pontica ''Biatora pontica'' is a species of corticolous (bark-dwelling), leprose lichen in the family Ramalinaceae. It is a widely distributed species, having been recorded in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America. Taxonomy ''Biatora pontica'' was f ...

'', although this suggestion awaits corroboration with DNA evidence.

Habitat and distribution

''Biatora pacifica'' grows on the bark of trees, including '' Abies koreana'', '' A. sachalinensis'', '' Acer mono'', ''

Acer palmatum ''Acer palmatum'', commonly known as Japanese maple, palmate maple, or smooth Japanese maple (Korean: ''danpungnamu'' []; Japanese: ''irohamomiji'' [] or ''momiji'' []), is a species of woody plant native to Korea, Japan, China, eastern Mongol ...

'', ''Quercus crispula'', ''Quercus dentata, Q. dentata'' as well as species of ''

Alnus Alders are trees of the genus ''Alnus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The genus includes about 35 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, a few reaching a large size, distributed throughout the north temperate zone with a few species ext ...

'', ''

Magnolia ''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendr ...

'', and ''

Salix Willows, also called sallows and osiers, of the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 350 species (plus numerous hybrids) of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions. Most species are known ...

''. It is distributed along the Pacific coasts of Russia, Japan, and South Korea. In the latter country, it was found at elevations from , while in the other locales it has been found at elevations between sea level and .

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q107522661 pacifica Lichen species Lichens described in 2016 Lichens of Asia Taxa named by Göran Thor Taxa named by Tor Tønsberg Taxa named by Christian Printzen