''Coenogonium lueckingii'' 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 Coenogoniaceae. It is known to occur in a couple of locations in South Korea, where it grows on the bark of trees in humid locations.

Taxonomy

The lichen 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 2015 by Yogesh Joshi, Liudmila Gagarina, Joseph Halda, and Jae-Sun Hur. 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 from Wonang Falls in Donnaeko valley (

Seogwipo Seogwipo (; ) is the second-largest Administrative divisions of South Korea, city on Jeju Island, settled on a rocky volcanic coastline in the southern part of Jeju Province, South Korea. In July 2006, Seogwipo's boundaries were expanded to inclu ...

Jeju Province Jeju Province (; ), officially Jeju Special Self-Governing Province (Jeju language, Jeju: ; ), is the southernmost Provinces of South Korea, province of South Korea, consisting of eight inhabited and 55 uninhabited islands, including Marado, Udo ...

) at an altitude of . 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) ...

honours lichenologist

Robert Lücking Robert Lücking (born 1964) is a German lichenologist, known for his extensive research on foliicolous lichens (lichens that live on leaves) and his significant contributions to the taxonomy, ecology, and biodiversity of fungi and lichens. He e ...

, "for his enormous contributions to the field of lichenology".

Description

The lichen has a smooth, greenish-grey to pale grey

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 ...

surrounded by a white

prothallus A prothallus, or prothallium, (from Latin ''pro'' = forwards and Greek ''θαλλος'' (''thallos'') = twig) is usually the gametophyte stage in the life of a fern or other pteridophyte. Occasionally the term is also used to describe the young ...

. Its

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 between 0.4 and 0.9 mm in diameter, and have a that is pale yellowish-orange to deep orange, encircled by a cream-coloured . 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, which number 8 per

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 ...

, are

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 ...

to fusiform (spindle-shaped), colourless, and measure 7.5–10

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 ...

long by 2–2.5 μm wide; they have a single

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 ...

. The partner, which is from the

green alga 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 ( ...

l genus '' Trentepohlia'', measures 5–10 μm in diameter and is grouped in irregular plates or short threads in the . ''Coenogonium lueckingii'' does not react to any of the standard chemical spot tests used to test for the presence of

lichen product Lichen products, also known as lichen substances, are organic compounds produced by a lichen. Specifically, they are secondary metabolites. Lichen products are represented in several different chemical classes, including terpenoids, orcinol deri ...

s, and no substances were detected when the lichen was analysed using

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 ...

Habitat and distribution

The lichen has only been recorded from

Jogyesan Jogyesan, or Mount Jogye, is a mountain of South Jeolla Province in southwestern South Korea. It has an elevation of . It is the main attraction of Mount Jogye Provincial Park (). It takes its name from the namesake Jogye Order which founded a k ...

and the

Chuja Islands The Chuja Islands () are a group of 42 islands in the Jeju Strait, about halfway between Jejudo and the southern coast of Jeollanamdo. Only four islands are inhabited: Sangchuja ("Upper Chuja"), which is connected by a bridge to Hachuja ("Low ...

; in both locations it grows on the bark of trees in humid locations.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q107577591 Gyalectales Lichen species Lichens described in 2015 Lichens of Eastern Asia