Coniocarpon cinnabarinum
Coniocarpon cinnabarinum collected from Corylus avellana at Gravdal SV in Kvam (O-L-227240).
Coniocarpon cinnabarinum is a species of the boreo-nemoral rainforests and oceanic woodlands in Rogaland and Vestland. It is characterized by mostly rounded to only slightly elongated apothecia with a distinct orange red pruina. The pale brown spores are (2–)3(–4)-transversely septate and have an enlarged apical cell.
- Innhold
- Description
- Ecology
- Distribution in Norway and the Nordic countries
- Global distribution
- Similar species
Coniocarpon cinnabarinum collected from Corylus avellana at Grunnavassdalen in Bjørnafjorden (O-L-177000).
Description
Thallus
The thallus is pale olive grey to light brown and has a surface that is matt to weakly glossy, and compact to slightly felty. It is immersed in the bark to superficial. The margin is not determinate or delimited by a thin brown line, mainly when in contact with other lichen thalli. The photobiont is a species of the family Trentepohliaceae.
Fruitbodies
The apothecia are raised over the thallus surface, and irregularly rounded, weakly lobed or sometimes distinctly elongated. They are dark purplish brown in color, and mostly covered in a thick orange red pruina along the margins, and in a thin white pruina on the disc. They are 0.1–0.4 × 0.1–0.3 mm in size and 95–140 μm tall.
The epithecium is 10–25 μm tall, dark reddish brown in color, and includes numerous pale crystals in addition to orange, red and purplish pigment granules.
The hymenium is colorless except for an occasional weak and patchily distributed red to purplish pigmentation in the gelatinous matrix. It is (45–)65–90 μm tall.
The hypothecium is colorless to pale brown and 20–35 μm tall.
The paraphysoids are 1–2 μm wide. Their tips are widened to 3–4 μm and extend horizontally above the asci. The tips often protrude from the epithecium to form sparsely branched hair-like extensions up to 20 μm long. The hyphal walls contain patchily distributed brown pigment.
The asci are clavate, with stipe, 58–84 × 20–35 μm in size, and 8-spored.
The spores are unpigmented, narrowly obovoid, (19–)23–28(–30) × (8–)10–11(–12) μm in size, and divided by (3–)4–5(–8) transverse septa. The apical cell is enlarged. Old spores are pale brown.
Anamorph
Pycnidia have not been observed on material from Norway. They are reported as being 40–70 μm in size, immersed in the thallus and with a red-brown, K+ olive-grey wall on material from the British Islands. The conidia are rod-shaped and 3.5–5.5 × 0.7–0.8 μm in size.
Chemistry
The thallus does not react with C, K, KC, Pd or UV (C–, K–, KC–, Pd–, UV–), but the orange red pruina of the apothecia changes to purple in K (K+ purple). Pigments A1, A3 and A4 in variable amounts have been detected by TLC.
Hymenium and hypothecium react Idil+ red, I+ red and KI+ blue. The proper exciple and epithecium react Idil+ blue, I+ blue and KI+ blue. A KI+ blue ring structure is present in the tholus of the asci. The orange, red and purple crystals dissolve in K with a clear and fleeting purplish solution.
Coniocarpon cinnabarinum (Norway)
Ecology
Coniocarpon cinnabarinum is an oceanic species that usually grows on the smooth bark of trees and shrubs in natural to old-growth forests and woodlands including boreo-nemoral rainforests and Corylus avellana grooves. The species has been observed in Norway most often on common hazel (Corylus avellana), more rarely on European ash (Fraxinus excelsior) and rowan (Sorbus aucuparia). Coniocarpon cinnabarinum is a rare species that can be locally abundant.
In Norway, C. cinnabarinum is known only from Rogaland and Vestland. It has been found in various forest communities including oceanic Pinus sylvestris dominated coastal forest, Corylus avellana grooves, broad-leaved deciduous forest and Fraxinus excelsior-dominated wooded scree-slopes.
Distribution in Norway and the Nordic countries
Coniocarpon cinnabarinum is widespread in oceanic coastal areas in Rogaland and Vestland. In the Nordic countries, it is further known from Denmark and southern Sweden.
Global distribution
Coniocarpon cinnabarinum is widely distributed in oceanic habitats of western and southern Europe. The species is reported from tropical to temperate regions world-wide including North and South America, Africa, Asia, and Australasia.
Coniocarpon cinnabarinum collected from Corylus avellana at Spyssøyhamn V in Bømlo (O-L-227305).
Similar species
Coniocarpon fallax is the only species that can easily be confused with Coniocarpon cinnabarinum. That species has smaller spores that measure (15–)17–20(–22) × (6–)7–9(–10) μm and have 3–4(–5) transverse septa. The apothecia of C. fallax are typically more elongate to lirellate, or irregularly star-shaped. However, several individuals of C. cinnabarinum with clearly elongated apothecia have been found in Norway. Such specimens can only be separated from C. fallax by larger spores with more septa.
Poorly developed individuals of Coniocarpon cinnabarinum may lack a well-developed pruina on the apothecia. Such specimens need to be separated with care from Coniocarpon cuspidans and Arthonia stellaris, which occur in the same habitat. Coniocarpon cuspidans always lacks an orange red pruina and the spores are smaller, (15–)16–18(–20) × (6–)7–8(–9) μm in size, and with (2–)3(–4) transverse septa. The apothecia are more elongate as compared to typical individuals of Coniocarpon cinnabarinum. The apothecia of Arthonia stellaris lack quinoid pigments and are furthermore clearly lirellate and thinner. The spores are 16–22 × 6–7 μm in size and divided by (2–) 3–4 transverse septa.
Several other species of Arthoniaceae in Norway contain reddish, K+ purple pigments in the apothecia. The spores in all of them are only 1-septate and the reddish pigment is diffusely distributed in the gelatinous matrix only and not crystalline as in the Coniocarpon species.
Literature
Cannon P, Ertz D, Frisch A, Aptroot A, Chambers S, Coppins BJ, Sanderson N, Simkin J and Wolseley P (2020). Arthoniales: Arthoniaceae. Revisions of British and Irish Lichens 1: 1–48.
Frisch A, Moen VS, Grube M and Bendiksby M (2020). Integrative taxonomy confirms three species of Coniocarpon (Arthoniaceae) in Norway. MycoKeys 62: 27–51.
Yamamoto Y, Kinoshita Y, Thor G, Hasumi M, Kinoshita K, Koyama K, Takahasi K and Yoshimura I (2002). Isofuranonaphthoquinone derivatives from cultures of the lichen Arthonia cinnabarina (DC.) Wallr. Phytochemistry 60: 741–745.