Xanthoparmelia echidnaformis
Xanthoparmelia echidnaformis is a little-known species of saxicolous foliose lichen in the family Parmeliaceae. It occurs in Western Australia.
Taxonomy
Xanthoparmelia echidnaformis was first described by the lichenologist John A. Elix in 2006, from specimens collected along the Great Eastern Highway and echidna, alluding to the dense, spiny appearance of its isidia, resembling the spines of an echidna.
Description
The thallus of Xanthoparmelia echidnaformis is foliose, to tightly adnate, measuring 3–5 cm wide. are separate at the margins but contiguous in the centre, somewhat linear, and to trichotomously branched, ranging from 0.6–0.8 mm wide. The upper surface is yellow-green, flat to weakly convex, initially shiny but becomes dull and with age. It features dense, cylindrical, densely -branched isidia forming a mat up to 1 mm high in the thallus centre. The medulla is white, and the lower surface ranges from pale to darker brown at the lobes' tips with moderately dense, simple rhizines.
Habitat and distribution
At the time of its original publication, Xanthoparmelia echidnaformis was known to occur only at its type locality in the subarid inland of Western Australia. It typically grows on granite in Eucalyptus–''Melaleuca'' woodland environments.