Amandinea devilliersiana
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| Amandinea devilliersiana | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Ascomycota |
| Class: | Lecanoromycetes |
| Order: | Caliciales |
| Family: | Caliciaceae |
| Genus: | Amandinea |
| Species: | A. devilliersiana |
| Binomial name | |
| Amandinea devilliersiana | |
Amandinea devilliersiana is a crustose lichen in the family Caliciaceae.[1] It occurs on salt-sprayed granite and quartzite along the coasts of South Australia, Western Australia, and Tasmania, where its grey, fissured thallus is dotted with inconspicuous black fruit bodies. This coastal specialist can be identified by its distinctive red reaction when tested with potassium hydroxide solution and its production of norstictic acid. The lichen shares its harsh maritime habitat with other salt-tolerant species, preferring slightly sheltered rock faces and overhangs where seawater mist provides intermittent moisture.
The species was described in 2013 by the Australian lichenologists John A. Elix and Gintaras Kantvilas from material collected on granite boulders at Windmill Bay, eastern Kangaroo Island (type locality 1 m above sea level). The epithet honours Brigitte de Villiers, a long-standing field companion of Kantvilas.[2]
Morphologically A. devilliersiana most closely resembles the Antarctic species Amandinea latemarginata, from which it differs in having smaller ascospores (10–15 × 5–8 μm vs 12–18 × 7–10 μm), longer thread-like conidia (15–30 μm) and, critically, a thallus whose rim does not break into radiating lobes (an 'effigurate' margin). The new species also recalls the widespread Amandinea pelidna, but that lichen lacks secondary metabolites and usually develops a thicker internal layer beneath the hymenium. Thin-layer chromatography shows A. devilliersiana contains norstictic acid as its principal lichen product, with a trace of connorstictic acid.[2]