Biatora pacifica
Biatora pacifica is a species of corticolous, crustose lichen in the family Ramalinaceae. It is found in Russia, Japan, and South Korea, where it grows along the Pacific coast. It inhabits the bark of a variety of coniferous and deciduous plants.
Taxonomy
The species was formally described as new to science in 2016 by lichenologists Christian Printzen, Tor Tønsberg, and Göran Thor. The type specimen was collected on Moneron Island at an elevation between ; there, the lichen was found growing on bark at the base of an old Abies sachalinensis tree. The species epithet pacifica refers to its distribution along the Pacific Coast.Description
The whitish to greenish-grey thallus surface of Biatora pacifica is thick, rough, and crumbling, with warts, and in rare instances forms areoles that are 0.1–0.25 mm in diameter. It lacks a visible hypothallus, as well as the vegetative propagules isidia and soredia. The photobiont partner of the lichen is chlorococcoid, with individual algal cells measuring 5–13 μm in diameter. Apothecia are typically abundant and occur singly on the thallus. They are usually about 0.42–0.80 mm in diameter. The disc is dark grey or olive brown, flat to slightly convex, and roughly the same level as the apothecial margin. Asci contains eight spores and are of the Biatora-type. The ascospores are usually colourless and most lack a septum, with typical dimensions of 9.6–12.1 by 3.0 –3.5 μm.Thin-layer chromatography revealed the presence of an unidentified xanthone compounds in Biatora pacifica Also, an unidentified olive-green pigment is present in the apothecial tissue.
The authors notes a resemblance to Ivanpisutia oxneri, but that species has smaller ascospores and a different chemistry. They proposed that Biatora pacifica is an esorediate counterpart of Biatora pontica, although this suggestion awaits corroboration with DNA evidence.