Tapellaria granulosa
Tapellaria granulosa is a species of corticolous crustose lichen in the family Pilocarpaceae. It was described from subtropical Florida and has a pale green thallus that is densely covered with fine, granule-like outgrowths. It also has black apothecia and ascospores.
Taxonomy
Tapellaria granulosa was described as a new species in 2011 by Robert Lücking and Eimy Rivas Plata, based on a collection made in Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park. The holotype was collected in March 2009 along Janes Scenic Drive, about north-northwest of the ranger station, in a Taxodium–''Sabal hammock. It is deposited in the Field Museum herbarium, with an isotype in the University of South Florida herbarium. The specific epithet granulosa'' refers to the finely and densely granulate thallus surface, described as unusual within the genus.
Description
The thallus is corticolous and forms a continuous crust 2–5 cm across and about 30–50 micrometers thick. Its surface is pale green and densely, giving it an isidia-like appearance. The granules are described as clusters of cells wrapped in fungal hyphee; the photobiont is . The apothecia are, rounded to irregular, and 0.5–1 mm in diameter. The is initially flat but becomes convex with age; it is black to brownish black, with a thin, persistent black margin. Under the microscope, the paraphyses are branched and anastomosing. The asci measure about 90–120 × 18–28 μm and contain 4–8 ellipsoid, muriform ascospores. The spores measure about 20–25 × 10–15 μm and have 3–5 transverse septa and 1–2 longitudinal septa per segment. are also present. They produce, curved conidia that are 5–7-septate and about 40–50 × 2 μm. No lichen substances were detected by thin-layer chromatography.
Habitat and distribution
The species was originally known from two collections from Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park, where it grows on the bark of Taxodium. It was treated as closely related to Tapellaria malmei from the same locality, sharing similarly small muriform ascospores but differing in its distinctive granular thallus. The granules were interpreted as unlikely to function as true isidia and may instead increase thallus surface area. Similar between-species variation in thallus texture has been compared with patterns reported in the related genus Lasioloma. Tapellaria granulosa has also been documented from Santa Cruz Island in the Galápagos.