Variospora

Vondrák, Jan, Frolov, Ivan, Davydov, Evgeny A., Yakovchenko, Lidia, Malíček, Jiří, Svoboda, Stanislav & Kubásek, Jiří, 2019, The lichen family Teloschistaceae in the Altai-Sayan region (Central Asia), Phytotaxa 396 (1), pp. 448-450 : 448-450

Variospora ( Figs 12D–F , 14 )

Two species recorded in the region. Thallus is crustose, areolate, or reduced in lichenicolous specimens. Vegetative diaspores are absent; apothecia are present. Both species are confined to inorganic substrates. Some species have ascospores with a specific shape, with thickened wall or without broadened septa, but species in the region have common polarilocular ascospores. Literature: Arup et al. (2013), Vondrák et al. (2017).

Variospora dolomiticola : 14 localities at altitudes 410–2900 m, mostly in arid alpine and non-alpine habitats. Substrate: calcareous rocks; not lichenicolous.

Figures

FIGURE 12. Rusavskia (A–C) and variability in Variospora sororicida (D–E). A, Rusavskia elegans (Vondrák 18104), large and small morphotypes included, both are distinct in ITS; B, Rusavskia sp. 1 (Vondrák 18102) with Xanthoria-like flat lobes; C, Rusavskia sp. 2 (Vondrák 18161) with appressed lobes to substrate; D, Variospora sororicida (Vondrák 18071) with strongly reduced thallus on Pyrenodesmia; E, V. sororicida (Vondrák 18680) with few distinct areoles, on Pyrenodesmia; F, V. sororicida with numerous areoles, not obviously lichenicolous (Vondrák 18223).All bars, 1 mm.

FIGURE 14. Bayesian phylogenetic reconstruction of a part of Variospora using the ITS DNA locus. Sequences from the Altai-Sayan region are in bold.