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Marcelaria benguelensis

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Marcelaria benguelensis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Ascomycota
Class: Dothideomycetes
Order: Trypetheliales
Family: Trypetheliaceae
Genus: Marcelaria
Species:
M. benguelensis
Binomial name
Marcelaria benguelensis
(Müll.Arg.) Aptroot, Nelsen & Parnmen (2013)
Synonyms[1][2]
  • Bathelium benguelense Müll.Arg. (1885)
  • Laurera benguelensis (Müll.Arg.) Zahlbr. (1922)
  • Laurera subbenguelensis Upreti & Ajay Singh (1987)

Marcelaria benguelensis is a tropical species of corticolous (bark-dwelling) and crustose lichen in the family Trypetheliaceae. It is found in continental southeast Asia.

Taxonomy

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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]

Description

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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]

Distribution

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The lichen has been recorded from Cambodia, India, Myanmar, the Philippines,[2] and Thailand.[6]

References

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  1. ^ "Synonymy: Marcelaria benguelensis (Müll. Arg.) Aptroot, Nelsen & Parnmen, Glalia 5(2): 4 (2013)". Species Fungorum. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Aptroot, A.; Nelsen, M.P.; Parnmen, S. (2013). "Marcelaria, a new genus for the Laurera purpurina group in the Trypetheliaceae (Ascomycota: Dothideomycetes)". Glalia. 5 (2): 1–14.
  3. ^ Müller, J. (1885). "Lichenologische Beiträge XXI". Flora (Regensburg) (in Latin). 68 (12): 247–261.
  4. ^ Zahlbruckner, A. (1922). Catalogus Lichenum Universalis. Vol. 1. Leipzig: Gebrüder Borntraeger. p. 503.
  5. ^ Upreti, D.K.; Singh, A. (1987). "Lichen genus Laurera from the Indian subcontinent". Bulletin du Jardin Botanique National de Belgique. 57 (3–4): 367–383. doi:10.2307/3668110. JSTOR 3668110.
  6. ^ a b Manojlovic, Nedeljko T.; Vasiljevic, Perica J.; Marković, Zoran S. (2010). "Antimicrobial activity of extracts and various fractions of chloroform extract from the lichen Laurera benguelensis". Journal of Biological Research-Thessaloniki. 13: 27–34.