Pyrenula cruenta
| Pyrenula cruenta | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Ascomycota |
| Class: | Eurotiomycetes |
| Order: | Pyrenulales |
| Family: | Pyrenulaceae |
| Genus: | Pyrenula |
| Species: | P. cruenta
|
| Binomial name | |
| Pyrenula cruenta | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
|
List
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Pyrenula cruenta is a species of corticolous (bark-dwelling) crustose lichen in the family Pyrenulaceae.[2] It has a pantropical distribution.
Taxonomy
The species was introduced by Camille Montagne in 1837 as Trypethelium cruentum. Montagne recorded the species on the rough bark of trees in Guiana (French Guiana), based on material collected by Leprieur.[3] The species was later shifted between allied pyrenocarpous genera—Trevisan placed it in Stromatothelium (1861) and Müller Argoviensis in Melanotheca (1885)—before Vainio transferred it to Pyrenula in 1890 as Pyrenula cruenta, the name now in use. Names since brought into synonymy include Verrucaria circumrubens Nyl. (1868), later recombined as Pyrenula circumrubens by B.de Lesdain (1910), and Trypethelium rubrum C.Knight (1884), which Knight himself recombined as Melanotheca rubra (1889).[1]
Description
Montagne's protologue depicts a bark-dwelling lichen with a very thin, cartilage-like thallus that is olive-brown or sometimes so scant as to be almost invisible. The fertile parts appear as uneven, convex "warts" that often run together in short lines; he notes their "bloody" coloration, with a black interior. Each wart houses a perithecium (the flask-shaped fruiting body typical of pyrenocarpous lichens) that is globose to egg-shaped and bears a small nipple-like pore (ostiole). As the tissue weathers, the dark perithecial top becomes exposed and is encircled by a narrow, paler halo. The asci contain two-celled (1-septate) ascospores that are ellipsoid and somewhat swollen (ventricose); each cell includes a conspicuous round oil droplet.[3] The ascospores are 27–35 micrometres long.[4]
The pigment responsible for the red colour of the thallus is draculone, an anthraquinone compound. It is accompanied by minor amounts of haematommone.[5]
Habitat and distribution
Pyrenula cruenta has a pantropical distribution,[4] including Florida in the United States, where it grows on sun-exposed branches of trees on lake and marsh shores.[5]
See also
References
- ^ a b "GSD Species Synonymy. Current Name: Pyrenula cruenta (Mont.) Vain., Acta Soc. Fauna Flora fenn. 7(no. 2): 197 (1890)". Species Fungorum. Retrieved 9 November 2025.
- ^ "Pyrenula cruenta (Mont.) Vain". Catalogue of Life. Species 2000: Leiden, the Netherlands. Retrieved 9 November 2025.
- ^ a b Montagne, J.P.F.C. (1837). "Centurie de plantes exotiques nouvelles". Annales des Sciences Naturelles. Botanique (in French). 8: 345–370 [357].
- ^ a b Aptroot, André (2012). "A world key to the species of Anthracothecium and Pyrenula". The Lichenologist. 44 (1): 5–53 [24]. doi:10.1017/S0024282911000624.
- ^ a b Mathey, Annick; Spiteller, Peter; Steglich, Wolfgang (2002). "Draculone, a new anthraquinone pigment from the tropical lichen Melanotheca cruenta". Zeitschrift für Naturforschung C. 57 (7–8): 565–567. doi:10.1515/znc-2002-7-801. PMID 12240975.