''Inoderma sorediatum'' is a species of

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

in the family

Arthoniaceae The Arthoniaceae are a family of lichenized, lichenicolous and saprobic fungi in the order Arthoniales. The Arthoniaceae is the largest family of Arthoniales, with around 800 species. Most species in Arthoniaceae belong in '' Arthonia'' which is ...

. It is only known to occur on the bark of trees in Poland's

Białowieża National Park '' , iucn_category = II , photo = Bialowieza National Park in Poland0029.JPG , photo_caption = Fallen tree in the Białowieża Forest Park logo with European bison , map = Poland , relief = 1 , map_caption = Location in Poland , location = ...

. It is differentiated from other species in genus ''

Inoderma ''Inoderma'' is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Arthoniaceae. It was resurrected for use in 2015 for a small group of species with the following features: elevated, white pruinose pycnidia, immersed to adnate white pruinose apotheci ...

'' by the form of its

thallus Thallus (plural: 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. Many of these organisms ...

, which is entirely made of powdery, granular

soredia 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 ...

(vegetative

propagule In biology, a propagule is any material that functions in propagating an organism to the next stage in its life cycle, such as by dispersal. The propagule is usually distinct in form from the parent organism. Propagules are produced by organisms ...

s), as well as by the presence of a unique combination 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 de ...

Taxonomy

''Inoderma sorediatum'' was formally described as a new species in 2018 by Damien Ertz, Anna Łubek, and Martin Kukwa. The

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes the ...

was collected by the second and third authors from

(

Białowieża Forest Białowieża Forest; lt, Baltvyžių giria; pl, Puszcza Białowieska ; russian: Беловежская пуща, Belovezhskaya Pushcha is a forest on the border between Belarus and Poland. It is one of the last and largest remaining pa ...

, ).

Molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

analysis established its classification in genus ''

''. 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, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany) A botanical name ...

alludes to its characteristic sorediate thallus.

Description

The crustose thallus of ''Inoderma sorediatum'' is about in diameter and up to 1 mm thick. Fresh individuals are pinkish, but specimens become white or yellowish after storage in a

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sheet of paper (calle ...

. The crust is made of soredia, which individually measure 20–35

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

in diameter. The

photobiont A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.green algae The green algae (singular: green alga) are a group consisting of the Prasinodermophyta and its unnamed sister which contains the Chlorophyta and Charophyta/ Streptophyta. The land plants ( Embryophytes) have emerged deep in the Charophyte alg ...

from genus '' Trentepohlia''). The algal cells contain an orange

pigment A pigment is a colored material that is completely or nearly insoluble in water. In contrast, dyes are typically soluble, at least at some stage in their use. Generally dyes are often organic compounds whereas pigments are often inorganic comp ...

that

refracts In physics, refraction is the redirection of a wave as it passes from one medium to another. The redirection can be caused by the wave's change in speed or by a change in the medium. Refraction of light is the most commonly observed pheno ...

polarized light Polarization ( also polarisation) is a property applying to transverse waves that specifies the geometrical orientation of the oscillations. In a transverse wave, the direction of the oscillation is perpendicular to the direction of motion of t ...

. The algal cells are spherical and measure 10––21 μm in diameter; they occur either singly or in short chains of 2–6 individuals, with adjacent cells becoming more

ellipsoid An ellipsoid is a surface that may be obtained from a sphere by deforming it by means of directional scalings, or more generally, of an affine transformation. An ellipsoid is a quadric surface; that is, a surface that may be defined as the ...

al or rectangular in shape. ''Inoderma sorediatum'' is a sterile lichen, meaning it does not produce

ascomata An ascocarp, or ascoma (), 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. Ascocarps are mo ...

, nor

ascospore An ascus (; ) 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 genera o ...

s. In rare instances, it has been recorded with

pycnidia A pycnidium (plural pycnidia) is an asexual fruiting body produced by mitosporic fungi, for instance in the order Sphaeropsidales ( Deuteromycota, Coelomycetes) or order Pleosporales (Ascomycota, Dothideomycetes). It is often spherical or in ...

, which measure 170–280 μm and have a dark brown wall. The

conidia A conidium ( ; ), sometimes termed an asexual chlamydospore or chlamydoconidium (), is an asexual, non-motile spore of a fungus. The word ''conidium'' comes from the Ancient Greek word for dust, ('). They are also called mitospores due to th ...

are

bacilliform A bacillus (), also called a bacilliform bacterium or often just a rod (when the context makes the sense clear), is a rod-shaped bacterium or archaeon. Bacilli are found in many different taxonomic groups of bacteria. However, the name ''Bacillu ...

in shape, and measure 3.5–5.0 by 1.1–1.3 μm. The species contains confluentic acid and 2'-''O''-methylperlatolic acid, which are

s that can be detected using

thin-layer chromatography Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) is a chromatography technique used to separate non-volatile mixtures. Thin-layer chromatography is performed on a sheet of an inert substrate such as glass, plastic, or aluminium foil, which is coated with a t ...

. ''Inoderma sorediatum'' is the only member of genus ''Inoderma'' to contain both of these substances.

Habitat and distribution

''Inoderma sorediatum'' grows in the deep bark crevices of large trees (both living and dead), usually ''

Quercus robur ''Quercus robur'', commonly known as common oak, pedunculate oak, European oak or English oak, is a species of flowering plant in the beech and oak family, Fagaceae. It is a large tree, native to most of Europe west of the Caucasus. It is wid ...

'', but also ''

Fraxinus excelsior ''Fraxinus excelsior'', known as the ash, or European ash or common ash to distinguish it from other types of ash, is a flowering plant species in the olive family Oleaceae. It is native throughout mainland Europe east to the Caucasus and Albo ...

''. Other lichen species growing in close association include ''

Chaenotheca chrysocephala ''Chaenotheca'' is a genus of lichenized fungi within the family Coniocybaceae. The sexual reproduction structures are a mass of loose ascospores that are enclosed by a cup shaped exciple sitting on top of a tiny stalk, having the appearance ...

'', '' Chaenothecopsis''

cf. The abbreviation ''cf.'' (short for the la, confer/conferatur, both meaning "compare") is used in writing to refer the reader to other material to make a comparison with the topic being discussed. Style guides recommend that ''cf.'' be used onl ...

''savonica'', ''

Chrysothrix candelaris ''Chrysothrix candelaris'', commonly known as the mustard powder lichenDobson, Frank S. ''Common British Lichens''. Pub. Norwich:Jarrold Colour Publication. p. 14. or gold dust lichen, is a species of leprose (powdery) lichen in the family Chry ...

'', ''

Lepraria ''Lepraria'' is a genus of leprose crustose lichens that grows on its substrate like patches of granular, caked up, mealy dust grains.A taxonomic revision of the North American species of Lepraria s.l. that produce divaricatic acid, with notes ...

'' spp., ''

Opegrapha vermicellifera ''Opegrapha'' is a genus of lichenized fungi in the family Opegraphaceae ''Opegraphaceae'' is a family of lichen-forming and lichenicolous fungi in the order Arthoniales. It was originally proposed by German lichenologist Ernst Stizenberger i ...

'', and '' Reichlingia leopoldii''. ''Inoderma sorediatum'' is only known to occur at the

type locality Type locality may refer to: * Type locality (biology) * Type locality (geology) See also * Local (disambiguation) * Locality (disambiguation) {{disambiguation ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q112241901 Arthoniaceae Lichen species Lichens described in 2018 Lichens of Europe Taxa named by Damien Ertz Taxa named by Martin Kukwa