Lecania

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Genus of fungi

title: "Lecania" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["ramalinaceae", "lichen-genera", "lecanorales-genera", "taxa-described-in-1853", "taxa-named-by-abramo-bartolommeo-massalongo"] description: "Genus of fungi" topic_path: "general/ramalinaceae" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lecania" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Genus of fungi ::

| image = Lecania fructigena - Flickr - pellaea.jpg | image_caption = Lecania fructigena | taxon = Lecania | authority = A.Massal. (1853) | type_species = Lecania fuscella | type_species_authority = (Schaer.) A.Massal. (1853) | synonyms_ref = | synonyms =

  • Bayrhofferia
  • Dimerospora
  • Lecaniella
  • Dyslecanis
  • Adermatis
  • Lecaniomyces
  • Oxnerella

Lecania is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Ramalinaceae. Lecania is widely distributed, especially in temperate regions, and contains about 65 species. These lichens form thin, crusty growths on various surfaces and produce small disc-shaped fruiting bodies that are typically brown to black in colour. Most species reproduce both sexually through spores and asexually through tiny reproductive structures, allowing them to spread effectively in their environments.

Taxonomy

The genus was circumscribed by Abramo Bartolommeo Massalongo in 1853. He assigned Lecania fuscella as the type species.

Description

Lecania forms a crustose thallus—that is, a thin, paint-like growth tightly attached to the substrate. Depending on the species, this crust may be only a fraction of a millimetre thick or develop into a more robust layer that cracks into tiny plates () or wart-like bumps. In a few taxa the surface becomes minutely lobed or covered with powdery reproductive tissues such as soralia or tiny grain-like propagules (, ) that help the lichen spread vegetatively. Colours range from grey-white and pale yellow to deep brown-black; many specimens acquire a frost-like coating of minute crystals called , and some have a dead, transparent film that gives a slightly glazed look. The upper is built of tightly packed fungal cells, though in some species this layer is so saturated with crystals that its cellular structure is obscured. The photosynthetic partner is always a single-celled green alga of the type, which nestles within the medulla just beneath the cortex.

The sexual fruiting bodies are tiny, stalk-less (apothecia) that appear flat when young but often bulge into low domes with age. Measuring roughly 0.4–0.6 mm across (occasionally up to 1 mm), these discs vary in colour from pale brown through orange to almost black and may also carry a dusting of pruina. They are usually rimmed by a thin band of thallus tissue, though this margin can erode in older specimens. Viewed in section, the hymenium (the fertile layer) is colourless but turns blue when stained with iodine. Slender paraphyses thread through the hymenium; their tips often swell or darken, giving a mottled, "piebald" appearance when the disc is wetted. Each ascus ordinarily houses eight colourless ascospores (occasionally up to sixteen) that are one- to three-septate, though some species may have spores with as many as seven internal walls. Spores are thin-walled, sausage- to spindle-shaped, and longer examples can curve gently. Asexual reproduction is common on bark-dwelling species: flask-shaped pycnidia produce tiny, curved conidia.

Most Lecania species lack distinctive secondary metabolites, but a few contain the lichen substance atranorin or various unidentified terpenes. Pigments within the apothecia sometimes give positive colour reactions with standard chemical spot tests (K or N).

Species

, Species Fungorum (in the Catalogue of Life) accepts 65 species of Lecania. ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Lecania_croatica_28845463.jpg" caption="''Lecania croatica''"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Lecania_erysibe_80937166.jpg" caption="''Lecania erysibe''"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/Lecania_naegelii_67580066.jpg" caption="''Lecania naegelii''"] ::

References

References

  1. (2017). "''Lecania sessilisoraliata'', a new sorediate lichen species from limestone in Turkey". Phytotaxa.
  2. (2023). "Lecanorales: Ramalinaceae [revision 1], including the genera ''Bacidia'', ''Bacidina'', ''Bellicidia'', ''Biatora'', ''Bibbya'', ''Bilimbia'', ''Cliostomum'', ''Kiliasia'', ''Lecania'', ''Megalaria'', ''Mycobilimbia'', ''Phyllopsora'', ''Ramalina'', ''Scutula'', ''Thalloidima'', ''Toninia'', ''Toniniopsis'' and ''Tylothallia''".
  3. "''Lecania''".
  4. Dodge, C.W.. (1948). "Lichens and lichen parasites". British Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition Scientific Reports.
  5. (2012). "New taxa, reports, and names of lichenized and lichenicolous fungi, mainly from the Scottish Highlands". The Lichenologist.
  6. (2019). "Eleven new species of crustose lichenized fungi from the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas)". The Lichenologist.
  7. (2008). "Dictionary of the Fungi". CAB International.
  8. Knowles, M.C.. (1913). "The maritime and marine lichens of Howth". Scientific Proceedings of the Royal Dublin Society.
  9. (2013). "New and noteworthy lichen-forming and lichenicolous fungi". Acta Botanica Hungarica.
  10. (2015). "New and noteworthy lichen-forming and lichenicolous fungi 3". Acta Botanica Hungarica.
  11. Massalongo, A.. (1853). "Alcuni generi di licheni nuovamente limitati e descritti". Antonelli.
  12. Müller, J.. (1895). "Lecanoreae et Lecideae australienses novae". Bulletin de l'Herbier Boissier.
  13. (2007). "''Lecania belgica'' van den Boom & Reese Næsborg, a new saxicolous lichen species from western Europe". The Lichenologist.
  14. "Synonymy. Current Name: ''Lecania'' A. Massal., Alcuni Gen. Lich.: 12 (1853)". [[Species Fungorum]].
  15. (2020). "Lichens and associated fungi from Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska". The Lichenologist.
  16. (1996). "''Lecania poeltii'', a new lichen species from Portugal and northern Africa". The Lichenologist.
  17. (2012). "Checklist and three new species of lichens and lichenicolous fungi of the Algarve (Portugal)". Sydowia.
  18. van den Boom, P.P.G.. (2016). "Lichens and lichenicolous fungi of the Azores (Portugal), collected on São Miguel and Terceira with the descriptions of seven new species". Acta Botanica Hungarica.
  19. (2017). "Further interesting lichens and lichenicolous fungi from Fuerteventura, Canary Islands (Spain), with three new species and notes on ''Mixtoconidium''".
  20. (2020). "Outline of Fungi and fungus-like taxa". Mycosphere.

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