Leucodecton
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Leucodecton is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Graphidaceae. These lichens form thin, cream to pale brown crusts on bark or rock surfaces and reproduce through flask-shaped fruiting bodies that often appear in small, wart-like clusters. The genus currently includes more than 30 species found worldwide, with many recently described from tropical regions such as Sri Lanka and Costa Rica.
Taxonomy
The genus was circumscribed in 1860 by Swiss lichenologist Abramo Bartolommeo Massalongo, with Leucodecton compunctum assigned as the type species.[1]
Description
Leucodecton forms a thin, crust-like thallus that lies flat on the bark or rock surface. Its upper layer is usually cream to pale fawn; the outer "skin" (Template:Lichengloss) is only weakly developed, giving the surface a smooth to slightly knobbly look. Large, irregular crystals may be embedded in the interior, but the border (Template:Lichengloss) that some lichens display is missing. Vegetative propagules used for asexual spread—powdery soredia or tiny finger-like isidia—occasionally occur. The photosynthetic partner is a filamentous green alga from the genus Trentepohlia, which lends an orange tint when exposed in damaged areas.[2]
The reproductive bodies are flask- to urn-shaped apothecia that start out immersed in the thallus and often push up in small wart-like clusters. Their black Template:Lichengloss are usually concave, sometimes dusted with a grey bloom (Template:Lichengloss), and are framed by a rim of thallus tissue (Template:Lichengloss) that may split irregularly as the fruiting body matures. Beneath this rim lies a Template:Lichengloss—an internal ring of densely intertwined fungal hyphae—seen in a view from above. Within the apothecium, the colourless hymenium houses slender asci, each with a single functional wall layer that thickens abruptly at the tip. The asci typically hold one to eight ascospores.[2]
Spores are elongated to spindle-shaped, with several internal walls; they begin colourless and thin-walled but often darken and develop thick, laminated walls as they age. No conidiomata (structures that produce asexual spores) have been observed. Chemically, most species produce stictic or norstictic acid, secondary metabolites that are useful for species identification through thin-layer chromatography.[2]
Species
As of June 2025[update]Template:Dated maintenance category (articles)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"., Species Fungorum (in the Catalogue of Life) accepts 32 species of Leucodecton:[3]
- Leucodecton albidulum Template:Au
- Leucodecton album Template:Au[4]
- Leucodecton anamalaiense Template:Au
- Leucodecton biokoense Template:Au[5]
- Leucodecton bisporum Template:Au[4]
- Leucodecton canescens Template:Au[6] – Sri Lanka
- Leucodecton compunctellum Template:Au[5]
- Leucodecton compunctum Template:Au
- Leucodecton confusum Template:Au
- Leucodecton coppinsii Template:Au[6]
- Leucodecton dactyliferum Template:Au
- Leucodecton desquamescens Template:Au
- Leucodecton elachistoteron Template:Au[5]
- Leucodecton fissurinum Template:Au[5]
- Leucodecton fuscomarginatum Template:Au[6] – Sri Lanka
- Leucodecton glaucescens Template:Au[5]
- Leucodecton granulosum Template:Au[7]
- Leucodecton inspersum Template:Au
- Leucodecton isidioides Template:Au
- Leucodecton minisporum Template:Au[8]
- Leucodecton nuwarense Template:Au[5]
- Leucodecton occultum Template:Au[5]
- Leucodecton oxysporum Template:Au
- Leucodecton phaeosporum Template:Au
- Leucodecton pseudostromaticum Template:Au[9]
- Leucodecton pustulatum Template:Au[10]
- Leucodecton sordidescens Template:Au[4]
- Leucodecton sorediiferum Template:Au[5]
- Leucodecton subcompunctum Template:Au[5]
- Leucodecton tarmuguliense Template:Au
- Leucodecton uatumense Template:Au[8]
- Leucodecton willeyi Template:Au[11]
References
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