Marcelaria benguelensis | |
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Scientific classification
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Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Fungi |
Division: | Ascomycota |
Class: | Dothideomycetes |
Order: | Trypetheliales |
Family: | Trypetheliaceae |
Genus: | Marcelaria |
Species: | M. benguelensis
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Binomial name | |
Marcelaria benguelensis | |
Synonyms [1] [2] | |
Marcelaria benguelensis is a tropical species of corticolous (bark-dwelling) and crustose lichen in the family Trypetheliaceae. It is found in continental southeast Asia.
The lichen was first formally described in 1885 by Swiss botanist Johannes Müller Argoviensis as a species of Bathelium. The type specimen was collected in India. [3] In 1922, Alexander Zahlbruckner transferred it to the genus Laurera. [4] The taxon was one of three species transferred to the newly circumscribed genus Marcelaria in 2013. [2]
The taxon Laurera subbenguelensis described in 1987 by Dalip Kumar Upreti and Ajay Singh from specimens found in Kerala, [5] was later determined to be synonymous with Marcelaria benguelensis. [2]
Marcelaria benguelensis has an olive-green, crustose thallus with a surface that often has an orange pruina. The ascomata resemble warts on the thallus surface; they are 0.6–1 mm in diameter, and cluster together in groups of 2 to 6. The ascospores, which number 8 per ascus, are muriform (divided into chambers) with 15 to 23 septa running transversely through the spore and 3 to 7 that are longitudinal; the spores measure 50–80 by 17–23 μm and have a gelatinous sheath that is 3–12 μm thick. [2]
Marcelaria benguelensis contains the secondary compounds parietin and teloschistin (both anthraquinone pigments) and lichexanthone. The latter substance causes the thallus to fluoresce a yellow colour when shone with a UV light. [2] Laboratory tests have shown that extracts of the lichen have antimicrobial properties, which are attributed to the presence of lichexanthone. [6]
The lichen has been recorded from Cambodia, India, Myanmar, the Philippines, [2] and Thailand. [6]