Sarcographa Macrohydrina
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''Sarcographa'' is a
genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
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 ...
in the family
Graphidaceae The Graphidaceae are a family of lichen-forming fungi in the order Graphidales. The family contains nearly a hundred genera and more than 2000 species. Although the family has a cosmopolitan distribution, most Graphidaceae species occur in tropic ...
. Established in 1825 by the French botanist
Antoine Laurent Apollinaire Fée Antoine Laurent Apollinaire Fée was a French botanist who was born in Ardentes, 7 November 1789, and died in Paris on 21 May 1874. He was the author of works on botany and mycology, practical and historical pharmacology, Darwinism, and his exper ...
, the genus contains 22 species that are recognised by their distinctive star-shaped colonies of radiating, script-like fruiting structures with black borders. These bark-dwelling lichens are found in humid
tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...
and warm
temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° N/S of the Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ran ...
forests worldwide and serve as
indicators Indicator may refer to: Biology * Environmental indicator of environmental health (pressures, conditions and responses) * Ecological indicator of ecosystem health (ecological processes) * Health indicator, which is used to describe the health ...
of undisturbed woodland, as they quickly decline when forest
canopy Canopy may refer to: Plants * Canopy (biology), aboveground portion of plant community or crop (including forests) * Canopy (grape), aboveground portion of grapes Religion and ceremonies * Baldachin or canopy of state, typically placed over an a ...
is opened or disturbed.


Taxonomy

The genus was circumscription (taxonomy), circumscribed by the French botanist
Antoine Laurent Apollinaire Fée Antoine Laurent Apollinaire Fée was a French botanist who was born in Ardentes, 7 November 1789, and died in Paris on 21 May 1874. He was the author of works on botany and mycology, practical and historical pharmacology, Darwinism, and his exper ...
in 1825. In his original description, Fée characterised the genus by its labyrinthine fruiting bodies () that are sunken into a fleshy support structure, with the disc initially covered by a powdery substance () and containing an elongated, branched nucleus with irregular striations. He initially described three species: ''Sarcographa cinchonarium, S. cinchonarium'' (the type species) from the bark of cinchona trees, ''Sarcographa tigrina, S. tigrina'' with its yellowish, thick, and uneven thallus, and ''Sarcographa cascarillae, S. cascarillae'' distinguished by its pale yellowish, membranous, thick, and somewhat uneven thallus. Fée noted that the lirellae are partially embedded in a fleshy, whitish, rather thick support structure that serves as a kind of universal receptacle, and emphasised that this support structure often becomes bifurcated at the extremities of the lirellae.


Description

''Sarcographa'' develops a thin, chalk-white to pale grey crust (thallus) that sits flush with the bark and lacks a true . Its most conspicuous feature is a star-shaped colony of radiating : each slit is 0.5–3 mm long, commonly curved, and bordered by a completely (blackened) rim that makes the pattern stand out black against the thallus. A colourless to pale brown lines the interior, while the hymenium is usually clear and non-. The ''Graphis (lichen), Graphis''-type ascus, asci contain eight hyaline (colourless and translucent) ascospores that become prominently —divided by numerous transverse and a few longitudinal septum, septa—remain iodine-negative (I–) and typically measure 30–70 × 8–16 μm. Chemically, most species produce stictic acid or norstictic acid (occasionally together with trace protocetraric acid, protocetraric-series depsidones) which can impart a yellow-brown tinge to the disc surface. The rosette (botany), rosette of radiating lirellae, together with the fully carbonised margins and large I– muriform spores, separates ''Sarcographa'' from superficially similar script lichens. In ''Graphis'' and ''Glyphis (lichen), Glyphis'' the lirellae are scattered rather than arranged in a star-burst; ''Redingeria'' and ''Reimnitzia'' share black rims but lack the distinctive radial pattern; whereas ''Kalbographa'' differs by its bright orange anthraquinone . A closely allied genus, ''Sarcographina'', also forms rosettes, but its smaller spores react I+ (violet) and the hymenium is densely inspersed—features absent from ''Sarcographa''.


Ecology

''Sarcographa'' has a pantropical to warm-
temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° N/S of the Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ran ...
distribution. All known species are corticolous lichen, corticolous, favouring smooth, shaded bark in humid evergreen forests from lowland Amazonia and West-Central Africa to Southeast Asia, northern Australia and the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf–East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Coastal Plain of North America. Several species (e.g., ''S. colombiana'') also colonise mangrove stems just above the high-tide mark, displaying a tolerance of intermittent salt spray. Because the genus declines quickly after
canopy Canopy may refer to: Plants * Canopy (biology), aboveground portion of plant community or crop (including forests) * Canopy (grape), aboveground portion of grapes Religion and ceremonies * Baldachin or canopy of state, typically placed over an a ...
opening or repeated burning, its presence is a useful field bioindicator, indicator of long-standing, moisture-rich woodland habitat.


Species

, Species Fungorum (in the Catalogue of Life) accepts 22 species of ''Sarcographa''. * ''Sarcographa astroidea'' * ''Sarcographa atlantica'' * ''Sarcographa cinchonarum'' * ''Sarcographa colliculosa'' * ''Sarcographa dendroides'' * ''Sarcographa fenicis'' * ''Sarcographa fissurinoides'' * ''Sarcographa glyphiza'' * ''Sarcographa heteroclita'' * ''Sarcographa intricans'' * ''Sarcographa kirtoniana'' * ''Sarcographa labyrinthica'' * ''Sarcographa macrohydrina'' * ''Sarcographa maculata'' * ''Sarcographa medusulina'' * ''Sarcographa megistocarpa'' * ''Sarcographa nagalandica'' * ''Sarcographa oculata'' * ''Sarcographa praslinensis'' * ''Sarcographa ramificans'' * ''Sarcographa subglobosa'' * ''Sarcographa subtricosa'' * ''Sarcographa verrucosa''


References

{{Taxonbar , from1=Q7423591 , from2=Q107289249 Graphidaceae Lichen genera Graphidales genera Taxa named by Antoine Laurent Apollinaire Fée Taxa described in 1825