Massalongia patagonica Kitaura & Lorenz in Liu et al.

Jorgensen, Per M., Andersen, Heidi L. & Elvebakk, Arve, 2019, The genus Massalongia (lichenised ascomycetae) in the Southern Hemisphere, MycoKeys 60, pp. 125-140 : 125

Massalongia patagonica Kitaura & Lorenz in Liu et al.

Massalongia patagonica Kitaura & Lorenz in Liu et al., Sydowia 70: 249-252 (2018) - Holotypus: Argentina, Ushuaia, National Park of Tierra del Fuego, Lapataia Bay, muscicolous on the rock, 54°50'41.42"S, 68°33'52.31"W, 6 m alt., 25 December 2016, leg. M.J.Kitaura, J.Bordin, A.A.Spielmann & D.Peralta 4188 (CGMS).

Description.

M. patagonica ( Fig. 3 ) is morphologically similar to M. carnosa . Generally, spore characters are the best distinguishing characters ( Fig. 4 ). The spores of M. carnosa are longer and 92% of 72 measured spores were in the range 23-35 µm. By contrast, 70% of 58 measured spores of M. patagonica were in the range 15-22 µm. This means that there is an overlap in sizes between these two species. However, the spores of M. patagonica are often two-septate, sometimes three-septate, which is very rare in M. carnosa . Here follows a more detailed treatment of Massalongia patagonica Kitaura & Lorenz:

Thallus foliose, forming rosettes up to 3 cm, mostly muscicolous; lobes 0.5-1.5 mm broad, up to 1 cm long, irregularly and repeatedly divided with isidioid marginal outgrowths, simple to sparingly branched, sometimes developing into branched lobule systems, lobules, 0.1 mm wide. Upper surface brown, glabrous and glossy; upper cortex 20-30 µm thick, paraplectenchymatic, of thick-walled (ca. 1.5-2 µm wide) cells with 7-12 µm large lumina; photobiont layer 40-60 µm thick, often also developed in the subhymenium; cyanobiont Nostoc, cells bluish-green, irregularly subglobose to ellipsoid, 5-9 × 6-11 µm in size, arranged within 20-40 µm large glomeruli without visible chain structures, chain structures visible in some liberated cells; medulla loose, 60-80 µm thick; lower cortex absent, with scattered rhizohyphae.

Apothecia common to scattered, substipitate, laminal, 1-2 mm wide; thalline excipulum lacking, true excipulum weakly prominent; epithecium 5-10 µm thick, of protruding brown and strongly swollen, pyriform paraphyse end cells, 4-6 µm wide, 7-10 µm long, paraphyses undivided to sparingly divided, 2-4 µm thick; hymenium ca. 60 µm thick, IKI + blue; asci clavate 50-70 × 10-15 µm, 8-spored, with distinct internal apical IKI + blue sheath-like structures, sometimes also with weak tube structures; ascospores narrowly ellipsoid, occasionally asymmetric, 1- to 2 (3)-septate, (13) 20-25 (28) × 5-7.5 µm. Hypothecium ca. 60 µm thick, weakly brownish, IKI negative. Conidiomata not seen.

Chemistry.

All reactions negative, no lichen substances detected by TLC.

Habitat and distribution.

This is a species of wet to dry rock surfaces or boulders, usually growing in between mosses or on plant remains. It has a widely scattered distribution in South America, ranging from the temperate forests of south-central Chile, including the Juan Fernandez Islands and Patagonia, with two widely separated collections from southernmost Chile and Argentinean Tierra del Fuego. In addition, it is known from the Falkland Islands, Antarctica, mountains of SE Australia, where it is rare and from several localities in New Zealand.

Specimens examined.

Antarctica: South Shetland Islands, King George Isl., Admiralty Bay, creeping slopes above Paradise Cove, 26 Jan 1980, R. Ochyra 1224/80 (BG, H); Urbanek, Crag between Polar Committee Glacier and Ladies Icefall, in Ezcurra Inlet, 20 Feb 1980, R. Ochyra 2319/80 (BG, H).

Argentina: Patagonia: Chubut, Lago Verde, near Futalaufquen, 1 Feb 1950, I. M. Lamb 5877 (over mosses on a rock in open scrub, about 30 m above the lake), 5880 (over mosses on a rock in open forest about 15 metres above the lake) (CANL, UPS).

Australia: New South Wales, near the summit of Mt. Guthrie, Kosciusko National Park, on moss over granite rocks, 9 Feb 1978, J.A. Elix 4360 (CANB); Kosciusko National Park, near Digger’s Creek, 21 Jan 1976, J. A. Elix 1722 (CANB); Île Australia near Kerguelen Isl., on moss cushions, 492823S, 695329E, 45 m alt., 31 Dec 2003, NJM Gremmen, K-789 (BG).

Chile: IX Región de la Araucanía: Reserva Nacional Malalcahuello, W bank of Río Colorado, 500 m W of the Entrance/CONAF building and 200 m S of the junction between the paths Sendero Coloradito and Sendero Sierra de Colorado; 38°25'45"S, 71°32'44"W, 1380 m alt., over Grimmia mosses on a S-facing rock outcrop in a Nothofagus dombeyi-Araucaria araucana forest, probably affected by river water during high flooding events, 9 Jan 2015, A. Elvebakk 15:033 (SGO, BG, UPS, BM, TROM); Archipiélago de Juan Fernandez: Isla Alejandro Selkirk (Mas Afuera), Los Innocentes, 4 Dec 1965, H. Imshaug (MSC); Valdivia, Corral, R. Thaxter (MSC); XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antárctica Chilena, Provincia Magallanes, Morro Chico, 52°03'S, 71°28'W, 200 m alt., on acrocarpous mosses on a NW-facing rocky slope, 28 Nov 1999, A. Elvebakk 99:775 (TROM); Provincia Antártica Chilena, Comuna Cabo de Hornos, Isla Grande de la Tierra del Fuego, Bahía Yendegaia, NNE shore opposite Caleta Ferrari, 54°50'28"S, 68°47'52"W, 13 Jan 2013, W.R. Buck 60287 (NY 01886528).

Falkland Islands: W. Falkland, Chartres, Luxton NNR, 30 Jan 2015, A. Fryday 10999 (MSC).

New Zealand: Canterbury, Cass, between Sugar Loaf and Cass Hill, 761 m alt., 18 Feb 1991, A. J. Fife 9761 (CHR); Banks Peninsula, Mt. Sinclair, summit, 5 Feb 1970, D. J. Galloway (CHR); Mt. Cook National Park, D. J. Galloway (CHR); Otago, Deep Stream, above DCC water intake, 13 Feb 1998, D. J. Galloway 0170 (CHR); Otago, Old Man Range, N of Obelisk, 5 Feb 2009, D. J. Galloway 404009 (CHR); St. Mary’s Range, Anakin’s Skifield, 22 Feb 2006, D. J. Galloway (CHR); Lake Onslow near huts, amongst moss in drainage cracks of schist rock in grassland, 30 Jul 1998, D. J. Galloway 404012 (CHR); Otago, Pomahaka River- Hukarere, rock slabs above river, 13 Apr 1998, D.J. Galloway 404011 (CHR); North Rough Ridge, near "Great Tor", 12 Apr 1998, D. J. Galloway (CHR).

The other taxa originally described from the Southern Hemisphere as Massalongia species, are listed alphabetically, according to the epithet at the end of the discussion.

Figures

Figure 3. Massalongia patagonica, AE 15 - 033. Scale bar: 1 cm.

Figure 4. Massalongia ascospores, patagonica above, carnosa below. Scale bar: 20 µm.