''Peltula polycarpa'' is a species of

saxicolous A saxicolous lichen is a lichen that grows on rock. The prefix "sax" from the Latin means "rock" or "stone". Characteristics Saxicolous lichens exhibit very slow growth rates. They may develop on rock substrates for long periods of time, giv ...

(rock-dwelling),

squamulose lichen A squamulose lichen is a lichen that is composed of small, often overlapping "scales" called squamules. If they are raised from the substrate Substrate may refer to: Physical layers *Substrate (biology), the natural environment in which an o ...

in the family

Peltulaceae The Peltulaceae are a family of ascomycete fungi A fungus (plural, : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of Eukaryote, eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and Mold (fungus), molds, as well as the mor ...

. First described in 2022, it is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...

to Beijing's Mentougou District in China.

Taxonomy

The species ''Peltula polycarpa'' was formally identified and named in 2022 by Qiuxia Yang and Xinli Wei. 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 ...

''polycarpa'' is derived from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

words for 'many' and 'fruit', referring to the abundance of

apothecia 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 ...

, which are a type of

fruiting body The sporocarp (also known as fruiting body, fruit body or fruitbody) of fungi is a multicellular structure on which spore-producing structures, such as basidia or asci, are borne. The fruitbody is part of the sexual phase of a fungal life cy ...

found on the lichen. The

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of seve ...

was collected in the Baihuashan National Nature Reserve in Beijing's Mentougou District, at an elevation of .

Description

The

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 ...

of ''Peltula polycarpa'' is (scaly) with individual scales up to 5 mm in diameter or stretches to 6.8 mm long and 4.7 mm wide. Initially, it appears as single, pale yellow, tongue-shaped scales attached laterally to the , often maturing into multiple from either the same or different attachment points. Mature lobes are convex and deeply curved with their margins typically obscured unless viewed from underneath, showing either smooth or slightly lobed edges. The upper surface is bright olive-green with an olive-brown base and is not covered in a powdery coating (), while the lower surface is smooth, ranging from bright yellow to yellowish-brown. The thallus structure comprises a thin yellowish layer just under the surface (), a layer of clustered

algae Algae ( , ; : alga ) are any of a large and diverse group of photosynthetic, eukaryotic organisms. The name is an informal term for a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from ...

cells, a loosely woven middle layer (

medulla Medulla or Medullary may refer to: Science * Medulla oblongata, a part of the brain stem * Renal medulla, a part of the kidney * Adrenal medulla, a part of the adrenal gland * Medulla of ovary, a stroma in the center of the ovary * Medulla of ...

) of fungal

hypha A hypha (; ) is a long, branching, filamentous structure of a fungus, oomycete, or actinobacterium. In most fungi, hyphae are the main mode of vegetative growth, and are collectively called a mycelium. Structure A hypha consists of one o ...

e, and a densely packed lower layer () of large cells. Reproductive features include numerous apothecia that cover the upper surface, starting as small dots and enlarging to up to 0.48 mm with a pale yellow or body-coloured rim. The internal tissue of the apothecia (

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 others som ...

) is

wine red Burgundy is a dark red-purplish color. The color burgundy takes its name from the Burgundy wine in France. When referring to the color, "burgundy" is not usually capitalized. The color burgundy is similar to Bordeaux (#4C1C24), Merlot (#7 ...

when treated with

iodine Iodine is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol I and atomic number 53. The heaviest of the stable halogens, it exists as a semi-lustrous, non-metallic solid at standard conditions that melts to form a deep violet liquid at , ...

, and the spore-producing sacs (

asci ASCI or Asci may refer to: * Advertising Standards Council of India * Asci, the plural of ascus, in fungal anatomy * Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative * American Society for Clinical Investigation * Argus Sour Crude Index * Association of ...

) are club-shaped, containing over 100 spores each.

Habitat and distribution

''Peltula polycarpa'' grows on

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies und ...

surfaces that are periodically moistened by water, such as those found alongside mountain roads. It shares its habitat with various weeds, mosses, and other lichens and is currently known only within its discovery area in China.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q130703217 Lichinomycetes Lichen species Lichens described in 2022 Lichens of China