Krogia microphylla
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| Krogia microphylla | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Ascomycota |
| Class: | Lecanoromycetes |
| Order: | Lecanorales |
| Family: | Ramalinaceae |
| Genus: | Krogia |
| Species: | K. microphylla |
| Binomial name | |
| Krogia microphylla Timdal (2011) | |
Krogia microphylla is a rare species of corticolous (bark-dwelling), squamulose (scaly) lichen in the family Ramalinaceae.[1] It was discovered in 2011 by the Norwegian lichenologist Einar Timdal from a single specimen collected in the cloud forests of the Dominican Republic. The lichen forms tiny, overlapping scales that create a crusty surface on tree bark, and it lacks the powdery reproductive structures found in many related species. It remains known only from its original collection site.
Krogia microphylla was formally described as a new species in 2011 by the Norwegian lichenologist Einar Timdal. The type specimen was collected from a cloud forest in El Seibo Province at an altitude of about 450 m (1,480 ft). At the time, it was the third member of Krogia, a small, bark-dwelling genus of subtropical rainforest lichens that otherwise contained K. coralloides from Mauritius and K. antillarum from the Lesser Antilles. The genus is recognised by its minute, leaf-like squamules and by microscopic characters—especially the weak or absent amyloid reaction in the ascus apex (tholus) and its colourless, hair-thin spores that coil inside the ascus. Within the genus, K. microphylla is distinguished by its very small scales (maturing at roughly 0.3 mm but soon forming a continuous micro-leafy crust), by the lack of any detectable secondary metabolites, and by the dark olive-brown tissue (hypothecium and inner exciple) that turns green in potassium hydroxide (K).[2]