Cresponea flavosorediata
Cresponea flavosorediata is a species of lichen in the family Arthoniaceae. Described from the Brazilian Amazon in 2014, this lichen has since been recorded in several states across Brazil, where it grows on smooth tree bark in primary rainforests. The species forms extensive olive-green to olive-brown crusts on bark, with distinctive yellow-olive powdery patches for asexual reproduction and bright greenish-yellow frosted fruiting bodies when present. It can be distinguished from related species in the genus Cresponea by the color of its reproductive structures and its moderately long ascospores divided by seven to nine cross-walls.
Taxonomy
Cresponea flavosorediata was described as new in 2014 by André Aptroot and Marcela Cáceres. The type material was collected by the authors in 2012 from smooth tree bark in primary lowland rainforest at the Cuniã Ecological Station in Rondônia, at an elevation of about.Description
The thallus forms extensive, dull to slightly glossy crusts that can blanket large areas of bark; it is olivaceous green to olivaceous brown and lacks a contrasting border. Soralia are small, rounded, powdery patches that shed soredia ; in C. flavosorediata they are always present; they are yellow-olive, mostly circular, 0.5–2.5 mm across, and may become numerous enough to merge and cover much of the surface. The photosynthetic partner is a Trentepohlia-type green alga.Apothecia are, round to slightly lobed, usually few in number, 0.5–1.6 mm across. Their are flat and densely coated with vivid greenish-yellow ; the margin is black and slightly higher than the disc, with yellow pruina on the inner face. Internally, the outer wall is blackened and rough; the hymenium is hyaline and stains blue with iodine ; the are branched with brown, heavily pruinose tips. Asci contain eight ascospores that are hyaline, narrowly club-shaped, 7–9-septate, and typically 26–38 × 50–65 μm, often slightly curved. No pycnidia were seen. In spot tests, the thallus and apothecia are UV–, C–, P–, and K–; the turns red with K. Thin-layer chromatography shows zeorin in the thallus along with a non-anthraquinone pigment.