Pseudopeltula dicyanophora
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| Pseudopeltula dicyanophora | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Ascomycota |
| Class: | Lichinomycetes |
| Order: | Lichinales |
| Family: | Lichinaceae |
| Genus: | Pseudopeltula |
| Species: | P. dicyanophora |
| Binomial name | |
| Pseudopeltula dicyanophora Henssen (1995) | |
Pseudopeltula dicyanophora is a species of cyanolichen in the family Lichinaceae. It forms small, olive-green, shield-shaped scales on calcareous rock. The species is unusual in having two different cyanobacterial partners: a primary single-celled cyanobacterium throughout the thallus, and a secondary filamentous cyanobacterium housed in internal structures called cephalodia. It is known from the Caribbean and the Seychelles.
Pseudopeltula dicyanophora was described as a new species in 1995 by the lichenologist Aino Henssen, in the same paper that established the genus Pseudopeltula in the family Gloeoheppiaceae (order Lichinales). In Henssen's concept, Pseudopeltula includes small, olive-colored, squamulose to peltate cyanolichens with immersed apothecia whose mature structure is more complex than in related genera. The species epithet dicyanophora refers to the thallus having two different cyanobacterial partners: a primary, single-celled cyanobiont and a second, filamentous cyanobiont housed in internal cephalodia.[1]
In her remarks, Henssen distinguished P. dicyanophora from the similar P. myriocarpa by its non-stromatic fruiting bodies, the lack of amyloid (iodine-positive) reactions, its cushionlike thalli with large cavities and an irregular internal hyphal arrangement, and the presence of internal cephalodia. She also noted that its clustered, immersed apothecia are confined to depressions in the thallus and that sterile strands subdivide the hymenium, features she interpreted as steps toward a more stromatic fruiting structure within the group.[1]