Bouvetiella
Bouvetiella
Genus of lichen
Bouvetiella is a monotypic genus of lichenized fungus in the class Lecanoromycetes. It contains only the species Bouvetiella pallida.
| Bouvetiella | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Ascomycota |
| Class: | Lecanoromycetes |
| Order: | incertae sedis |
| Family: | incertae sedis |
| Genus: | Bouvetiella Øvstedal (1986) |
| Species: | B. pallida |
| Binomial name | |
| Bouvetiella pallida Øvstedal (1986) | |
Bouvetiella pallida was first described by Dag Olav Øvstedal, a Norwegian lichenologist, in 1986. At that time, no molecular sequencing had been done on genetic material from the species.[1] As of May 2023, that was still the case, so the genus Bouvetiella has not been assigned to a family or order, though it is known to fall into the class Lecanoromycetes.[2] Bouvetiella pallida is distinctly different from any other known lichen. Because of this, Øvstedal established the genus Bouvetiella to contain it.[3] Bouvetiella pallida is the only species in the genus.[2]
Bouvetiella pallida is a brownish-black crustose lichen which grows up to 1 cm (0.39 in) in diameter. Its thallus, the lichen's vegetative body, is rubbery (gelatinose) with small, granular scales known as squamules. Its tiny, pale apothecia, the lichen's fruiting bodies, measure a mere 0.2 mm (0.0079 in) in diameter and can range in colour from light pink to whitish. These can be flat, or slightly convex.[3] The asci each contain eight lemon-shaped ascospores. Thin-walled, transparent and colourless, these ascospores measure 14–16 x 5–6 μm and contain numerous oil droplets.[4]
Bouvetiella pallida was initially known only from Bouvet Island – a volcanic, subantarctic island in the southern Atlantic Ocean. There, it occurs 15–25 m (49–82 ft) above sea level, typically growing on low-growing communities of mosses. Those it most often overgrows belong to the genera Bryum and Tortula. It has also been found on soil (silt or scoria) near a fumerole.[5] On Bouvet Island, it has been found only in the area known as Nyrøysa – a flat terrace created by a rock slide on the island's northwestern coast in the 1950s.[3][6] However, in 1998, it was also discovered on Livingston Island in the South Shetlands, on the lower slopes of Mount Reina Sofía. There, it was growing on soil over rock.[7]
- Lücking, Hodkinson & Leavitt 2016, p. 373.
- Øvstedal 1986, p. 38.
- Øvstedal & Smith 2001, p. 108.
- Øvstedal & Smith 2001, p. 109.
- Søchting, Øvstedal & Sancho 2004, p. 618.
Sources
- Barr, Susan (1987). Norway's Polar Territories. Oslo: Aschehoug. ISBN 978-82-03-15689-2.
- "Bouvetiella". Catalogue of Life. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
- Lücking, Robert; Hodkinson, Brendan P. & Leavitt, Steven D. (Winter 2016). "The 2016 classification of lichenized fungi in the Ascomycota and Basidiomycota–Approaching one thousand genera". The Bryologist. 119 (4): 361–416. doi:10.1639/0007-2745-119.4.361. JSTOR 44250015. S2CID 90258634.
- Øvstedal, Dag Olav (1986). "Crustose lichens of Bouvetøya" (PDF). Botany of Bouvetøya, South Atlantic Ocean I: Cryptogramic taxonomy and phytogeography (PDF). Oslo: Norsk Polarinstitutt. ISBN 978-82-90307-40-5.
- Øvstedal, D. O. & Smith, R. I. Lewis (2001). Lichens of Antarctica and South Georgia: A Guide to Their Identification and Ecology. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-66241-3.
- Søchting, Ulrik; Øvstedal, Dag O. & Sancho, Leopoldo G. (2004). "The lichens of Hurd Peninsula, Livingston Island, South Shetlands, Antarctica". In Döbbeler, Peter & Rambold, Gerhard (eds.). Contributions to Lichenology. Festschrift in Honour of Hannes Hertel. Bibliotheca Lichenologica. Vol. 88. pp. 607–658. ISBN 978-3-443-58067-4.