M. Matzer

On the ascus types in thePhysciaceae (Lecanorales)

Comparative studies in thePhysciaceae revealed that characters of the apical apparatus of asci differ between the various genera. Two major ascus types are observable in this family. They are found to correspond with certain ascospore types.

High foliicolous lichen alpha-diversity on individual leaves in Costa Rica and Amazonian Ecuador

Two individual, dicotyledoneous leaves (125 and 98 cm2 in size) and one composed palm leaf (c. 6800 cm2 in size), gathered at La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica, and Jatun Satcha Biological Station, Amazonian Ecuador, were screened for small-scale foliicolous lichen diversity. On the dicotyledoneous leaf from Costa Rica, 49 lichens and one lichenicolous fungus were found, while a comparable leaf from Ecuador revealed 46 lichens and two lichenicolous fungi. The palm leaf yielded 81 lichens and one lichenicolous fungus. This is the highest alpha-diversity so far reported for foliicolous lichens on individual leaves and invites for comparison with tree diversity in tropical rain forests. Due to the high proportion of species represented by a single thallus, the taxonomic diversity of lichens on individual leaves (or trees in selected plots) cannot be self-supporting, but reflects a high degree of dispersion or entropy within the community of which the individual leaf (or selected plot) is part. Diversity is therefore fractal, showing similar patterns at different scales, each part of a given community reflecting the entire community. Thus, mechanisms that result in high small-scale diversity must be looked for at the community level.

Rinodina peloleuca (Physciaceae), a maritime lichen with a distinctive austral distribution

Abstract Rinodina peloleuca (Physciaceae) is an austral, maritime lichen species occurring in Tasmania and New Zealand, in southern South America, on subantarctic islands, and in maritime Antarctica. Together with other species, it indicates an austral connection in maritime lichens of the Southern Hemisphere. Chemically, the species is characterised by the presence of skyrin and triterpenes. Rinodina antarctica, R. deceptionis, R. endochrysodes, R. philomelensis, and, possibly, R. aspicilina are synonyms of R. peloleuca. The lichenicolous fungi Muellerella lichenicola, Polycoccum sp., Pyrenidium actinellum, and an unidentified coelomycete occur on the species.