Xanthoparmelia transvaalensis


Xanthoparmelia transvaalensis is a species of saxicolous, foliose lichen in the family Parmeliaceae. Found in Southern Africa, it was formally described as a new species in 1986 by the lichenologists Mason Hale, Thomas Hawkes Nash III, and John Elix. The type specimen was collected from the summit of Long Tom Pass at an elevation of, where it was found growing in a pasture on a sandstone outcrop.
The lichen thallus is dark yellowish green and measures broad, comprising that are 1–2 mm. The thallus surface is densely covered with isidia that are more or less with a constriction at their bases. The undersurface of the thallus is brown to black with a sparse to moderate number of unbranched rhizines that are 0.5–1 mm long. The lichen contains several secondary metabolites : dehydroconstipatic, pertusaric and usnic acids, trace amounts of constipatic and protoconstipatic acids, and some unidentified fatty acids.