Baculifera

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Baculifera
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Ascomycota
Class: Lecanoromycetes
Order: Caliciales
Family: Caliciaceae
Genus: Baculifera
Marbach & Kalb (2000)
Type species
Baculifera orosa
Marbach (2000)

Baculifera is a genus of lichens in the family Caliciaceae.[1] It was circumscribed in 2000 by Bernhard Marbach and Klaus Kalb. Species in this genus are characterized by having bacilliform conidia typically measuring 8–11 μm long, and a non-inspersed hymenium. The genus is roughly similar in morphology to Buellia.[2]

Description

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The thallus is crustose: it forms a thin, appressed crust that can be smooth and continuous or break into patches, and in some species it lies mostly within the bark (endophloeodal). It lacks a distinct outer cortex (ecorticate), and a faint marginal prothallus may be present. The photobiont is a unicellular green alga with roughly spherical cells about 8–18 μm across.[3]

Sexual reproductive structures are apothecia that are lecideine (with only a proper margin, not a thalline one) and sessile. The disc is black and flat, wavy, or slightly convex, without a whitish frosting (epruinose). The proper exciple is persistent, the same colour as the disc, and cup-shaped in section, appearing opaque dark brown. The hymenium is clear and not filled with oil droplets (hyaline, not inspersed) and carries a dark, pigmented epithecial layer. Paraphyses are simple or only sparsely branched and tend to stick together in a KOH test; their tips bear a distinct, internally pigmented cap. The asci are club-shaped and usually contain 3–8 spores. Their apical cap (tholus) is well developed and amyloid (staining blue with iodine), sometimes with a slightly more intensely amyloid band beside a broad or narrow conical central plug (a masse axiale) whose rounded apex usually extends through the tholus.[3]

The ascospores are brown to grey-brown, ellipsoid, sometimes slightly curved, and divided by 1–3 cross-walls. They lack a clear outer halo, and occur in two main forms: a Buellia-type with fairly even walls and little thickening, and a Callispora-type with slight to strong wall thickenings near the ends and the middle. Asexual reproduction occurs in immersed pycnidia that produce short, rod-shaped conidia (bacilliform). In chemical tests, many species contain atranorin and/or norstictic acid, while others have no detectable secondary metabolites.[3]

Species

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References

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  1. ^ "Baculifera". Catalogue of Life. Species 2000: Leiden, the Netherlands. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
  2. ^ Marbach, Bernhard (2000). Corticole und lignicole Arten der Flechtengattung Buellia sensu lato in den Subtropen und Tropen [A study of corticolous and lignicolous species of the lichen genus Buellia s.l. in subtropical and tropical regions]. Bibliotheca Lichenologica (in German). Vol. 74. J. Cramer. p. 113. ISBN 978-3-443-58053-7.
  3. ^ a b c Kantvilas, G. (2025). de Salas, M.F. (ed.). "Baculifera, version 2025:1". Flora of Tasmania Online. Hobart: Tasmanian Herbarium, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
  4. ^ Elix, John A. (2020). "Ten new species and two new records of buellioid lichens (Physciaceae, Ascomycota) from Australia and Norfolk Island" (PDF). Australasian Lichenology. 87: 3–19. Open access icon
  5. ^ a b c d Elix, J.A.; Kantvilas, G. (2014). "New species and new records of the lichen genus Baculifera (Physciaceae, Ascomycota) in Australia". Australasian Lichenology. 75: 28–37.