Austrographa Explained

Austrographa is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Roccellaceae. It has three species. The genus was circumscribed in 2013 by lichenologists Laurens Sparrius, John Elix, and Alan Archer, with Austrographa kurriminensis assigned as the type species. The genus had been published invalidly on two separate occasions. All three species in the genus were found in a mangrove stand in Queensland, Australia. The genus was discovered in Australia, and the name Austrographa reflects this.

Description

Austrographa is a genus of crustose, corticolous (bark-dwelling) lichens, with a smooth, water-repellent thallus densely filled with fine crystals and a cortical gel. The thallus is not and lacks roccellinic acid. The of the lichen is from Trentpohlia, a genus of green algae. The ascomata are rounded to, usually aggregated in linear or rounded . The hyaline is made of richly branched hyphae filled with crystals, and the is slightly paler than the thallus. The is orange to straw-colored, and the is and dark brown. The are frequently branched and anastomosed, and the asci are 8-spored, cylindrical, and Opegrapha-type, with a distinct apical . are, hyaline, curved, and thin-walled, measuring 45–60 by 2.0–3.0 μm and contain three septa. were not observed in collected specimens.

Species