''Schaereria fabispora'' is a species of

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 ...

in the family Schaereriaceae. Found in Norway, it was

formally described A species description is a formal scientific description of a newly encountered species, typically articulated through a scientific publication. Its purpose is to provide a clear description of a new species of organism and explain how it differ ...

as a new species in 1986 by lichenologists

Hannes Hertel Hannes Hertel is a German lichenologist and taxonomist and was Director of the State Herbarium in Munich, Germany 1992–2004. His specialist areas are the fungi and lichens. Early life and education Hannes Hertel was born in 1939. His doctorat ...

and L. Zürn. Diagnostically, ''Schaereria fabispora'' differs from '' Schaereria tenebrosa'' due to its larger, kidney-shaped (16.5–22 by 5.5–7

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 ...

). The

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular wikt:en:specimen, specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally associated. In other words, a type is an example that serves to ancho ...

was found in

Vega Island Vega Island () is an island in Antarctica, long and wide, which is the northernmost of the James Ross Island group and lies in the west part of Erebus and Terror Gulf. It is separated from James Ross Island by Herbert Sound and from Trinit ...

, Norway, by

Gunnar Degelius Gunnar Bror Fritiof Degelius (né Nilsson until 1932; 27 January 1903 – 22 July 1993) was a Swedish lichenologist. Between the publications of his first and final scientific papers, Degelius had a 70-year-long research career. While he was b ...

, where it was found growing on exposed

granitic A granitoid is a broad term referring to a diverse group of coarse-grained igneous rocks that are widely distributed across the globe, covering a significant portion of the Earth's exposed surface and constituting a large part of the continental ...

rock.

Description

In appearance, ''Schaereria fabispora'' closely mirrors its relative, ''Schaereria tenebrosa''. 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 ...

presents as a cohesive crust with a grey-white hue. It is characterised by a finely cracked surface and a height of up to 0.25 mm. Beneath a thin, colourless layer, a brown pigmented zone is observed, consisting of densely packed

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 ...

l cells. The lichen also hosts green algae within a defined . Unique to this species are its apothecia, which are sunken in their younger stages and have a matte black appearance. Internally, the (outer layer of the apothecium) has unpigmented hyphae and spaces filled with fine crystals, occasionally interspersed with algae. 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 ...

layer, which is where the lichen produces spores, is notable for its vibrant blue-green hue and blue-violet . The spores of ''Schaereria fabispora'' are bean-shaped, differing from the

ellipsoid An ellipsoid is a surface that can be obtained from a sphere by deforming it by means of directional Scaling (geometry), scalings, or more generally, of an affine transformation. An ellipsoid is a quadric surface; that is, a Surface (mathemat ...

shape seen in ''Schaereria tenebrosa''. A distinguishing feature of ''Schaereria fabispora'' is its significantly larger spores, which are 16.5–18.7–22 by 5.5–6.0–7 μm, as compared to those of ''Schaereria tenebrosa'' that are 10.5–12.4–15 by 5.3–6.2–7.5 μm. The lichen tests negative with commonly used chemical spot tests used in lichenology. The lichen does contain , a dark blue to black insoluble lichen pigment.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q108337694 Lecanoromycetes Lichen species Lichens described in 1986 Lichens of Northern Europe Taxa named by Hannes Hertel