Malmidea inflata
Malmidea inflata is a corticolous, crustose lichen in the family Malmideaceae. It was described in 2011 from northern Thailand; the species has a densely warted thallus and non-septate, ascospores, and it resembles M. aurigera but differs in having a whitish medulla rather than bright yellow in the thallus warts.
Taxonomy
The species was introduced as Malmidea inflata by Klaus Kalb in 2011 within a study on Malmidea and the family Malmideaceae. The holotype was collected on the descent from Doi Mon Larn to Mae Kampong village, near Mae On east-south-east of Chiang Mai, in evergreen montane forest dominated by Lithocarpus, Quercus and Castanopsis at approximately mid-elevation. The specific epithet refers to the conspicuous thallus warts, which look like tiny inflated balloons.
Description
The thallus is thin, crust-like and continuous on bark, densely warted with warts 0.2–0.3 mm high and 0.2–0.3 mm wide; soredia and isidia are absent. The medulla is whitish and reacts potassium hydroxide -positive. The is, with cells 5–8 μm in diameter. Apothecia are, rounded and 0.7–1 mm across and 0.3–0.4 mm high; the is plane to slightly convex, dark brown to blackish, and bordered by a thin margin of the granifera type that is 20–40 μm thick, initially entire and slightly prominent but tending to become recurved with age; the margin ranges from grey to dark brownish or blackish. The is hyaline at the periphery and internally shows a medullary layer with only a few hydrophobic granules that dissolve in KOH without a distinct colour reaction. The is about 10 μm high and olive-brown, the about 25 μm and dark brown, the hymenium 75–100 μm and hyaline, and the 100–170 μm and blackish-brown, with a K– reaction. Asci measure 65–80 × 10–15 μm. Ascospores number 6–8 per ascus, are colourless, ellipsoid, non-septate and, 10–13 × 6–8 μm with an approximately 1-μm. Reported chemistry includes atranorin with several as-yet unidentified lichen substances.
Habitat and distribution
Known from northern Thailand, the species grows on tree bark in evergreen montane forest near the Doi Mon Larn–Mae Kampong area east-south-east of Chiang Mai, where the canopy is dominated by Lithocarpus, Quercus and Castanopsis.