Alyxoria varia (formerly Opegrapha varia)

Alyxoria varia (formerly Opegrapha varia) on tag alder (Alnus rugosa) bark. The green algae Trentophila is the photobiont in this lichen association. Although Trentophila is a green alga (contains chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b) it is red in color owing to the pigment carotene.

comments (11)

Jivko Nakev

Lion

Gary, according the Catalogue of Life 2019 (Species 2000 and ITIS) the accepted scientific name is Alyxoria varia, Roccellaceae family, while the Opegrapha varia is shown as one of the various synonyms.
http://www.catalogueoflife.org/col/details/species/id/a11f761091c2803346c109777fa737d8/synonym/169c49ba34d70490f9c94440650c0803
In the same time according the Mycobank and the Lichenportal the accepted name is Opegrapha varia, Opegraphaceae family
http://www.mycobank.org/BioloMICS.aspx?TableKey=14682616000000067&Rec=197954&Fields=All
http://lichenportal.org/portal/taxa/index.php?taxon=55855
I am not sure which one to create. Posted 4 years ago
1. Gary B
  
  Lion
  
  Jivko, I just checked Lichen Portal and they've got it as Alyxoria varia now but still in the Opegraphaceae. They list Opegrapha varia and Alyxoria diaphora as synonyms (I guess these are now discarded names actually). Its a problem for sure.
  
  When I first identified this lichen after finding it a few years ago I was using Lichens of North America (Brodo, Sharnoff, and Sharnoff) as my primary guide and then checking places like the Lichen Portal which at the time was using Opegrapha varia for this one. Posted 4 years ago
2. Gary B
  
  Lion
  
  Jivko, after Checking the Catalogue of Life 2019 where Alyxoria varia (Pers.) Ertz & Tehler is listed as the accepted name I think this is the one we should go with as it reflects the current concept of this species.
  
  Edit: I just found another place where this name is used but put in a different family: Lecanographaceae
  http://www.mycobank.org/name/Alyxoria%20varia&Lang=Eng Posted 4 years ago, modified 4 years ago
3. Gary B
  
  Lion
  
  This might be the solution:
  
  "The genus Alyxoria Ach. was recently reinstated by Ertz and Tehler (2011) based on phylogenetic studies to accommodate the species of Opegrapha varia group characterized by varia-type ascus. Moreover, species of this
  group have epruinose to pruinose ascomata with usually exposed hymenial disc, similar to the species of Lecanographa Egea & Torrente. Meanwhile, the family Roccellaceae s. lat. was segregated into four separate families: Lecanographaceae, Opegraphaceae, Roccellographaceae and Roccellaceae s. str. in recently published studies (Ertz and Tehler, 2011; Frisch et al., 2014). Subsequently, the genera and species previously placed in the
  family Roccellaceae were also segregated and assigned to different genera, and even transferred to different families of the order Arthoniales. As a result, Alyxoria is transferred to the family Lecanographaceae."
  
  A new record and key to the genus Alyxoria (lichenized Ascomycota) in India. Siljo Joseph, T. A. M. Jagadeesh Ram, G. P. Sinha, V. S. Ramachandran. Feddes Repertorium 2016, 127, 30–33, DOI: 10.1002/fedr.201600005
  
  They cite the primary literature on the current concept of this species which places it in the genus Alyxoria, family Lecanographaceae. Posted 4 years ago
4. 1. Jivko Nakev
    
    Lion
    
    Wow, an exceptional example of how dynamically the things are changing in the classification of some species! So let me know did I get it correctly:
    Fungi > Ascomycota > Arthoniomycetes > Arthoniales > Lecanographaceae > Alyxoria > Alyxoria varia Posted 4 years ago
  2. 1. Gary B
      
      Lion
      
      That seems right.
      
      I'm reading another on the Arthoniales (http://lutzonilab.org/publications/lutzoni_file541.pdf) describing changes made based on new molecular data. It will be a couple days before fully digest this. Posted 4 years ago
    2. 1. Jivko Nakev
        
        Lion
        
        Lol, you have a Good Night Reading for at least a week! Posted 4 years ago
      2. Gary B
        
        Lion
        
        Too cold to go out! Posted 4 years ago

Gary B

Lion

Jivko, I have another Arthonia (now Chrysothrix) here:

Posted 4 years ago
1. Jivko Nakev
  
  Lion
  
  Gary, I saw it, but I had no time to deep in it. It is possible in the new article you are studying now to have information about this species as well! Posted 4 years ago
2. 1. Gary B
    
    Lion
    
    That's okay. It's best to get all the info figured out on these. Posted 4 years ago