''Biatora pontica'' 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),

leprose lichen Lichens are symbiotic organisms made up of multiple species: a fungus, one or more photobionts (an alga and/or a cyanobacteria) and sometimes a yeast. They are regularly grouped by their external appearance – a characteristic known as their gro ...

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 a widely distributed species, having been recorded in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America.

Taxonomy

''Biatora pontica'' 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 a new species in 2003 by lichenologists Christian Printzen and Tor Tønsberg. 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 by the first author in the

Trebizond vilayet The Vilayet of Trebizond (; ) was a first-level administrative division (''vilayet'') in the north-eastern part of the Ottoman Empire, corresponding to the area along the eastern Black Sea coastline and the interior highland region of the Ponti ...

southeast of

Uzungöl Uzungöl (), or in the local Romeyka language: Şeraho, is a lake situated to the south of the city of Trabzon, in the Çaykara district of Trabzon Province, Turkey. Uzungöl is also the name of the village on the lake's coast. Over the years, t ...

, at an altitude of ; there, in a dense ''

Picea orientalis ''Picea orientalis'', commonly known as the Oriental spruce or Caucasian spruce, is a species of spruce native to the Caucasus and adjacent northeast Turkey. Description It is a large coniferous evergreen tree growing to 30–45 m tall or 9 ...

'' forest, it was found growing on the bark of a middle-aged 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) ...

''pontica'' refers to the presence of "pontica" pigments in the lichen.

Description

The

thallus Thallus (: thalli), from Latinized Greek (), meaning "a green shoot" or "twig", is the vegetative tissue of some organisms in diverse groups such as algae, fungi, some liverworts, lichens, and the Myxogastria. A thallus usually names the entir ...

of ''Biatora pontica'' is formed from , or small rounded areas. These areoles, in the non-sorediate parts, can either be embedded within or superficially connected to the . Their colour can range from a verdant green to yellowish-grey, and each areola can reach up to 1.2 mm in diameter. Bright green to yellowish-grey

soralia Soredia are common reproductive structures of lichens. Lichens reproduce asexually by employing simple fragmentation and production of soredia and isidia. Soredia are powdery propagules composed of fungal hyphae wrapped around cyanobacteria or g ...

(groups of reproductive structures) characterise this lichen, initially taking on a , or point-like shape. These soralia gradually merge over time. The presence of , or fruiting bodies where sexual reproduction occurs, is relatively rare in ''Biatora pontica''. These (typical to the genus ''

Biatora ''Biatora'' is a genus of lichens in the family Ramalinaceae. Originally circumscribed in 1817,Fries EM, Sandberg A. (1817). ''Lichenum dianome nova''. Lund. the genus consists of crustose and squamulose lichens with green algal photobionts, bi ...

''), rounded, and

sessile Sessility, or sessile, may refer to: * Sessility (motility), organisms which are not able to move about * Sessility (botany), flowers or leaves that grow directly from the stem or peduncle of a plant * Sessility (medicine), tumors and polyps that ...

structures vary from 0.5 to 0.7 mm in diameter. A , or the rim surrounding the apothecium, is typically visible in younger apothecia only and is colourless when examined in section. The , located at the centre of the apothecium, takes on a shade varying from dark grey-ochre to brown-grey and is flat to slightly convex in structure. The underlying layer, or , is mainly colourless, with fragments showcasing

pigments 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 ...

of Pontica-blue and Pontica-red. The

hymenium The hymenium is the tissue layer on the hymenophore of a fungal fruiting body where the cells develop into basidia or asci, which produce spores. In some species all of the cells of the hymenium develop into basidia or asci, while in oth ...

, or tissue layer containing the asci (spore-bearing cells), either bears no colour or is bright olive, measuring approximately 40

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 height. Each

ascus An ascus (; : asci) is the sexual spore-bearing cell produced in ascomycete fungi. Each ascus usually contains eight ascospores (or octad), produced by meiosis followed, in most species, by a mitotic cell division. However, asci in some gen ...

of the ''Biatora'' type carries eight spores. These are non-

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

and take on an

ellipsoid An ellipsoid is a surface that can be obtained from a sphere by deforming it by means of directional Scaling (geometry), scalings, or more generally, of an affine transformation. An ellipsoid is a quadric surface; that is, a Surface (mathemat ...

al shape, their size ranging from 12 to 14 μm in length and 3.5 to 3.7 μm in width.

Habitat and distribution

''Biatora pontica'' is widely distributed in Europe, having been recorded in Austria, Italy, Norway, Poland, Russia, and Slovenia. It also occurs in Africa, Asia, and North America.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q21252047 pontica Lichen species Lichens described in 2003 Lichens of Africa Lichens of Asia Lichens of Europe Lichens of North America Taxa named by Tor Tønsberg Taxa named by Christian Printzen