Sarcographina Maculata
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''Sarcographina'' 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 script lichens 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 ...
. It comprises six species. Established in 1887 by the Swiss lichenologist
Johannes Müller Argoviensis Johann Müller (9 May 1828 – 28 January 1896) was a Swiss botanist who was a specialist in lichens. He published under the name Johannes Müller Argoviensis to distinguish himself from other naturalists with similar names. Biography Müller ...
, these bark-dwelling lichens are distinguished by their star-burst colonies of short, curved fruiting structures with jet-black borders and
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 that
stain A stain is a discoloration that can be clearly distinguished from the surface, material, or medium it is found upon. They are caused by the chemical or physical interaction of two dissimilar materials. Accidental staining may make materials app ...
violet when treated with
iodine Iodine is a chemical element; it has symbol I and atomic number 53. The heaviest of the stable halogens, it exists at standard conditions as a semi-lustrous, non-metallic solid that melts to form a deep violet liquid at , and boils to a vi ...
. 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, they 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 habitats due to their sensitivity to
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 and drought.


Taxonomy

The genus was
circumscribed In geometry, a circumscribed circle for a set of points is a circle passing through each of them. Such a circle is said to ''circumscribe'' the points or a polygon formed from them; such a polygon is said to be ''inscribed'' in the circle. * Circum ...
by the Swiss lichenologist
Johannes Müller Argoviensis Johann Müller (9 May 1828 – 28 January 1896) was a Swiss botanist who was a specialist in lichens. He published under the name Johannes Müller Argoviensis to distinguish himself from other naturalists with similar names. Biography Müller ...
in 1887, with '' Sarcographina cyclospora'' assigned as the
type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...
. In his original description, Müller characterised ''Sarcographina'' by its crustaceous
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 ...
and chrome-coloured , with densely aggregated in spot-like that are immersed in the thallus surface. He distinguished the genus from ''
Sarcographa ''Sarcographa'' is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Graphidaceae. Established in 1825 by the French botanist Antoine Laurent Apollinaire Fée, the genus contains 22 species that are recognised by their distinctive star-shaped coloni ...
'' by noting that the lirellae are arranged in dense clusters rather than radiating patterns, and described the
perithecium 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. Ascoc ...
as having its own distinct boundary that is brownish-black and internally indistinct. Müller noted the linear asci contain simple
paraphyses Paraphyses are erect sterile filament-like support structures occurring among the reproductive apparatuses of fungi, ferns, bryophytes and some thallophytes. The singular form of the word is paraphysis. In certain fungi, they are part of the f ...
and both dark and pale
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. The genus name reflects its close relationship to ''Sarcographa'', with the suffix "-ina" indicating a diminutive or related form.


Description

''Sarcographina'' forms a smooth, chalk-white to pale grey crust (
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 ...
) that grows flush with the bark and lacks a true . Its fruit bodies are arranged in neat, star-burst colonies of short, curved whose walls are jet-black and wholly . A colourless to pale brown lines each slit, overhung by a yellow-brown often dusted with a fine . The
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 ...
is densely with oil droplets, and the thin-walled ''Graphis''-type asci contain eight hyaline
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 that are relatively small (roughly 15–35 × 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 ...
), transversely 3–9-septate, and
stain A stain is a discoloration that can be clearly distinguished from the surface, material, or medium it is found upon. They are caused by the chemical or physical interaction of two dissimilar materials. Accidental staining may make materials app ...
deep violet in iodine (I+). Many species synthesise the
ultraviolet Ultraviolet radiation, also known as simply UV, is electromagnetic radiation of wavelengths of 10–400 nanometers, shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays. UV radiation is present in sunlight and constitutes about 10% of ...
-fluorescent pigment
lichexanthone Lichexanthone is an organic compound in the structural class of chemicals known as xanthones. Lichexanthone was first isolated and identified by Japanese chemists from a species of foliose lichen, leafy lichen in the 1940s. The compound is known ...
, together with traces of
norstictic acid Norstictic acid is a depsidone produced as a secondary metabolites in lichens. The compound contains both an aldehyde carbonyl group and an adjacent hydroxyl In chemistry, a hydroxy or hydroxyl group is a functional group with the chemical fo ...
or
stictic acid Stictic acid is an aromatic organic compound, a product of secondary metabolism in some species of lichens. Stictic acid is the subject of preliminary biomedical research. Stictic acid has cytotoxic and apoptotic effects ''in vitro ''In v ...
, giving the a dull
ochre Ochre ( ; , ), iron ochre, or ocher in American English, is a natural clay earth pigment, a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. It ranges in colour from yellow to deep orange or brown. It is also the name of the colou ...
tint in reflected light and a bright yellow glow under long-wave ultraviolet. The combination of
rosette Rosette is the French diminutive of ''rose''. It may refer to: Flower shaped designs * Rosette (award), a mark awarded by an organisation * Rosette (design), a small flower design *hence, various flower-shaped or rotational symmetric forms: ** R ...
-forming lirellae, a strongly inspersed hymenium and I+ (violet), small-segmented spores separates ''Sarcographina'' from its sister genus ''
Sarcographa ''Sarcographa'' is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Graphidaceae. Established in 1825 by the French botanist Antoine Laurent Apollinaire Fée, the genus contains 22 species that are recognised by their distinctive star-shaped coloni ...
'', whose hymenium is clear and whose larger spores remain iodine-negative. Other script lichens with carbonised margins—such as '' Glyphis'', ''
Hemithecium ''Hemithecium'' is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Graphidaceae. The genus was circumscribed by Vittore Benedetto Antonio Trevisan de Saint-Léon in 1853. Species , Species Fungorum (in the Catalogue of Life The Catalogue of ...
'' and '' Redingeria''—lack the star-burst architecture, the persistent inspersion or the lichexanthone fluorescence that diagnose ''Sarcographina''.


Ecology

The genus has a
pantropical A pantropical ("all tropics") distribution is one which covers tropical regions of both the Eastern and Western hemispheres. Examples of species include caecilians, modern sirenians and the plant genera ''Acacia'' and ''Bacopa''. ''Neotropical' ...
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, with records from lowland
Amazonian rainforest The Amazon rainforest, also called the Amazon jungle or Amazonia, is a Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, moist broadleaf tropical rainforest in the Amazon biome that covers most of the Amazon basin of South America. This basin ...
, West-Central African evergreen stands, Indo-Malayan
dipterocarp Dipterocarpaceae is a family of flowering plants with 22 genera and about 695 known species of mainly lowland tropical forest trees. Their distribution is pantropical, from northern South America to Africa, the Seychelles, India, Indochina, Indo ...
forest and humid coastal woodlands of
Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
. All known species are
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 ...
, colonising shaded boles and large branches where high ambient humidity prevails; some taxa, particularly those rich in
lichexanthone Lichexanthone is an organic compound in the structural class of chemicals known as xanthones. Lichexanthone was first isolated and identified by Japanese chemists from a species of foliose lichen, leafy lichen in the 1940s. The compound is known ...
, also tolerate intermittent sunflecks on
mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have particular adaptations to take in extra oxygen a ...
trunks and creek bank trees. Field surveys show that populations decline rapidly 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 prolonged
desiccation Desiccation is the state of extreme dryness, or the process of extreme drying. A desiccant is a hygroscopic (attracts and holds water) substance that induces or sustains such a state in its local vicinity in a moderately sealed container. The ...
, so the presence of ''Sarcographina'' is a practical
indicator 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 o ...
of long-established, moisture-rich
woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...
habitat.


Species

Species Fungorum ''Index Fungorum'' is an international project to index all formal names (Binomial nomenclature, scientific names) in the fungus Kingdom (biology), kingdom. As of 2015, the project is based at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, one of three partn ...
(in the
Catalogue of Life The Catalogue of Life (CoL) is an online database that provides an index of known species of animals, plants, fungi, and microorganisms. It was created in 2001 as a partnership between the global Species 2000 and the American Integrated Taxono ...
) accepts six species of ''Sarcographina'': * '' Sarcographina contortuplicata'' * '' Sarcographina cyclospora'' * '' Sarcographina farinulenta'' * '' Sarcographina heterospora'' * ''
Sarcographina maculata ''Sarcographina'' is a genus of script lichens in the family Graphidaceae. It comprises six species. Established in 1887 by the Swiss lichenologist Johannes Müller Argoviensis, these corticolous lichen, bark-dwelling lichens are distinguished ...
'' * '' Sarcographina sandwicensis''


References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q21215982 Graphidaceae Lichen genera Graphidales genera Taxa described in 1887 Taxa named by Johannes Müller Argoviensis