Rhizocarpaceae
is a
family
Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
of
lichen
A lichen ( , ) is a hybrid colony (biology), colony of algae or cyanobacteria living symbiotically among hypha, filaments of multiple fungus species, along with yeasts and bacteria embedded in the cortex or "skin", in a mutualism (biology), m ...
-forming
fungi
A fungus (: fungi , , , or ; or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one ...
; together with the family
Sporastatiaceae it constitutes the order Rhizocarpales
in the
Ascomycota
Ascomycota is a phylum of the kingdom Fungi that, together with the Basidiomycota, forms the subkingdom Dikarya. Its members are commonly known as the sac fungi or ascomycetes. It is the largest phylum of Fungi, with over 64,000 species. The def ...
, class
Lecanoromycetes
Lecanoromycetes is the largest class of lichenized fungi. It belongs to the subphylum Pezizomycotina in the phylum Ascomycota. The asci (spore-bearing cells) of the Lecanoromycetes most often release spores by rostrate dehiscence.
The group is ...
. These lichens are primarily
rock-dwellers that form thin, paint-like crusts tightly attached to stone surfaces, though some species grow as small scales or radiating
rosettes. The family includes five
genera
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...
found mainly in cool to cold regions around the world, where they
colonize exposed
siliceous
Silicon dioxide, also known as silica, is an oxide of silicon with the chemical formula , commonly found in nature as quartz. In many parts of the world, silica is the major constituent of sand. Silica is one of the most complex and abundant ...
and
basic rocks in sunny locations. Most species reproduce through small black disc-shaped fruiting bodies that sit flush with or slightly above the crusty surface, and they often contain distinctive
chemical compounds
A chemical compound is a chemical substance composed of many identical molecules (or molecular entities) containing atoms from more than one chemical element held together by chemical bonds. A molecule consisting of atoms of only one element ...
that help with identification.
Description
Members of the Rhizocarpaceae are mostly rock-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 ...
s—forming a thin, paint-like layer that adheres tightly to the
substrate
Substrate may refer to:
Physical layers
*Substrate (biology), the natural environment in which an organism lives, or the surface or medium on which an organism grows or is attached
** Substrate (aquatic environment), the earthy material that exi ...
—although some species grow as small, scale-like or as
rosettes whose lobed margins radiate from a central point. Their upper surface (the ) is usually present and may be smooth, cracked, or warted and display an array of hues from grey and green to yellow-green when
rhizocarpic acid is concentrated near the surface. A few species begin life on 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 another lichen (
lichenicolous) and may never form a thallus of their own, producing only reproductive bodies on the
host
A host is a person responsible for guests at an event or for providing hospitality during it.
Host may also refer to:
Places
* Host, Pennsylvania, a village in Berks County
* Host Island, in the Wilhelm Archipelago, Antarctica
People
* ...
. 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 such as
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 ...
(powdery eruptions of algal–fungal tissue) or (tiny outgrowths that detach as whole-thallus clones) occur sporadically. The
photosynthetic
Photosynthesis ( ) is a Biological system, system of biological processes by which Photoautotrophism, photosynthetic organisms, such as most plants, algae, and cyanobacteria, convert light energy, typically from sunlight, into the chemical ener ...
partner is always a
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 ( ...
with rounded cells (a photobiont).
Sexual reproduction
Sexual reproduction is a type of reproduction that involves a complex life cycle in which a gamete ( haploid reproductive cells, such as a sperm or egg cell) with a single set of chromosomes combines with another gamete to produce a zygote tha ...
takes place in black
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 ...
that sit flush with, or project slightly above, the thallus. These may be round, angular, or on rare occasions slit-like; they lack a pale outer rim, a condition termed . The fleshy rim () is built from radiating or intertwined fungal threads (
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 may contain crystals visible through polarising light. Inside, the colourless
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 ...
turns blue with iodine (I+ blue), revealing its
amyloid
Amyloids are aggregates of proteins characterised by a fibrillar morphology of typically 7–13 nm in diameter, a β-sheet secondary structure (known as cross-β) and ability to be stained by particular dyes, such as Congo red. In the human ...
nature. Slender, branching weave through the hymenium, often swelling at their tips and sometimes capped by a dark pigment. The asci are —meaning two wall layers separate during spore release—and carry one to eight
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. When mature, the spores are one-celled to (divided by several internal walls), colourless to dark olive-brown, and wrapped in a gelatinous envelope ().
Asexual reproduction
Asexual reproduction is a type of reproduction that does not involve the fusion of gametes or change in the number of chromosomes. The offspring that arise by asexual reproduction from either unicellular or multicellular organisms inherit the f ...
is rare and involves
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 inve ...
, minute flask-shaped structures sunken in the thallus that release cylindrical
conidia
A conidium ( ; : conidia), sometimes termed an asexual chlamydospore or chlamydoconidium (: chlamydoconidia), is an asexual, non- motile spore of a fungus. The word ''conidium'' comes from the Ancient Greek word for dust, ('). They are also ...
. Alongside
rhizocarpic acid, the
medulla may host various
depside
A depside is a type of polyphenolic compound composed of two or more monocyclic aromatic units linked by an ester group. Depsides are most often found in lichens, but have also been isolated from higher plants, including species of the Ericaceae, ...
s,
depsidone
Depsidones (+ " depside" + "one") are chemical compounds that are sometimes found as secondary metabolites in lichens. They are esters that are both depsides and cyclic ethers. An example is norstictic acid
Norstictic acid is a depsidone produ ...
s, and
fatty acid
In chemistry, in particular in biochemistry, a fatty acid is a carboxylic acid with an aliphatic chain, which is either saturated and unsaturated compounds#Organic chemistry, saturated or unsaturated. Most naturally occurring fatty acids have an ...
s that aid species identification through simple chemical
spot tests.
Ecology
Collectively, the family's five genera favour
siliceous
Silicon dioxide, also known as silica, is an oxide of silicon with the chemical formula , commonly found in nature as quartz. In many parts of the world, silica is the major constituent of sand. Silica is one of the most complex and abundant ...
or
basic rock, with occasional records from nutrient-poor soils, and are widespread in cool to cold regions where exposed stone provides a stable, sunlit habitat.
Genera
* ''
Catolechia''
* ''
Epilichen''
* ''
Haugania''
– 2 spp.
* ''
Poeltinula''
* ''
Rhizocarpon
''Rhizocarpon'' is a genus of crustose, saxicolous (or sometimes lichenicolous), lichens in the family Rhizocarpaceae. The genus is common in arctic-alpine environments, but also occurs throughout temperate, subtropical, and even tropical reg ...
''
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q4353014
Lecanoromycetes families
Lichen families
Taxa named by Maurice Choisy
Taxa described in 1984