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LF in a jelly lichen

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  • October 6, 2025 at 7:57 pm #33095
    SylviaD
    Participant

      Hi,

      I wondered if anyone could help with this lichenicolous fungi present in a jelly lichen. The lichen thallus was about 4cm across and was found on the top of a limestone tomb. Once dry it then rehydrated very fast. It does have globose isidia, but it also has a lot of globose structures that contain perithecia of a LF. The perithecia are set so that only the ostiole and a tiny collar is visible in the thallus. A squash of one of these perithecia produced asci containing 8 spindle-shaped spores. The spores are consistently 19 X 5 um.

      I have tentatively IDed the lichen as Lathagrium auriforme, but I’ve not had much experience IDing LF and I’m a bit stuck so any help would be much appreciated.

      Thank you,

      Sylvia

      October 7, 2025 at 8:44 am #46700
      Neil Sanderson
      Senior Moderator

        Sylvia

        Are the spores simple or septate? They do not look very cleared in the photos, are they in K or water?

        All the best

        Neil

        October 7, 2025 at 10:08 am #46701
        SylviaD
        Participant

          Thanks for your reply Neil

          I’ve attempted some, hopefully better, slides. The spores seem quite resistant to staining, but I’ve attached a couple of photos from a new attempt and I can’t see any septa. The new staining also highlighted that the number of spores in each ascus seems to be 6 or 8.

          Sylvia

          October 7, 2025 at 11:03 am #46702
          Neil Sanderson
          Senior Moderator

            Sylvia

            If has simple spores, than all I can find parasitic on the Collemataceae is Obryzum corniculatum. The Hawksworth key describes the asci as “4 (?-8) spored”. The two images I can find https://sordariomycetes.org/vermiculariopsiellales/obryzaceae/obryzum/obryzum-corniculatum.html” class=”bbcode_url”>https://sordariomycetes.org/vermiculariopsiellales/obryzaceae/obryzum/obryzum-corniculatum.html & http://www.ascofrance.com/recolte/4217/sordariomycetes-position-incertaine-obryzaceae-obryzum-corniculatum” class=”bbcode_url”>http://www.ascofrance.com/recolte/4217/sordariomycetes-position-incertaine-obryzaceae-obryzum-corniculatum show somewhat fatter spores, but some of yours come close. Also maybe recorded from Scytinium species, so not a very good match.

            Neil

            October 7, 2025 at 12:19 pm #46703
            SylviaD
            Participant

              Thanks for your help Neil,

              I’ll try and get some better photos for my files and store the sample. It’ll be interesting to see if anybody else finds something similar – the effect the LF gives is of tiny chameleon eyes on the lobes – a sphere with a tiny black pupil on top.

              Best wishes,

              Sylvia

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