81
rarely, lateral ostiole, usually with a dark greenish brown to black
involucrellum. Exciple composed of periclinal hyphae, usually colourless.
Paraphyses long-celled, simple to sparingly or richly branched, or
anastomosing. Periphyses usually absent, rarely sparse. Asci fissitunicate, 8-
spored, narrowly to broadly cylindrical, narrowly obclavate or elongate-
ellipsoidal, predominantly thin-walled, but with a thicker apex and a minute but
well-defined ocular chamber (especially when immature), non-amyloid.
Ascospores predominantly 1-septate, more rarely 3-7-septate to muriform,
hyaline. Pycnidia producing either minute simple bacilliform or fusiform
microconidia, or much larger macroconidia that are 1–7-septate to muriform.
Photobiont:
Cephaleuros
,
Phycopeltis
or
Trentepohlia
. - This genus of mainly
foliicolous, tropical to subtropical species found in evergreen humid forests is still poorly known in Sri Lanka.
Teloschistes flavicans
(Sw.) Norman
Thallus fruticose, 1.5-7(-10) cm long, 2-4 cm in diam., tufted or rarely pulvinate
to pendent, more or less dichotomously branched. Branches corticated on both
sides, with rigid, entangled, 0.2-1.5 mm wide main branches, narrowing down
to 0.05-0.2 mm at the tips, terete to somewhat flattened and broadened at the
angles, with terete (especially towards the tips) secondary branches. Surface
orange-yellow to reddish orange, with soralia or soralia initials. Soredia
basically farinose but sometimes becoming granular, beginning to grow in
orbicular to elongated soralia on all sides of the thallus, gradually eroding away.
Apothecia usually absent. Photobiont: chlorococcoid. Spot-tests: K+ purple, C-,
KC-, P-. - Rare in humid upland forests, both on bark and on mossy rocks in
well-lit situations.
Tephromela atra
(Huds.) Hafellner v.
atra
Thallus crustose, irregularly cracked to rimose-areolate, usually in discrete
orbicular thalli up to c. 5 cm wide, but sometimes coalescing to form large
patches up to 30 cm wide, thin to thick (up to 1.5 mm or more in preciments
growing on calcareous rocks). Upper surface grey or whitish grey, sometimes
pure white, smooth to strongly rugose. Apothecia lecanorine, immersed to
usually becoming sessile, sometimes constricted at the base, round or irregular,
1-2.5 mm in diam; margin white, including algae; disc black, flat or slightly
concave, shiny, epruinose. Hymenium violet-red. Spores colourless, 1-celled,
ellipsoid. Photobiont: chlorococcoid. Spot-tests: upper cortex: K+ yellow
(atranorin), C-, KC-, P-; medulla K-, C-, KC-, P- (
α
-collatolic and alectoronic
acids). - This widespread, mainly saxicolous species has been recently reported also from Sri Lanka.
Thelotrema
spp.
Thallus crustose, immersed to superficial, greyish to greenish or olive, with
yellow, brown or white tones. Thallus ecorticate, or with a protocortex or a true
cortex. Prothallus thin to indistinct, brown. Apothecia more or less rounded,
rarely slightly irregular. Proper exciple more or less free, rarely fused.
Hymenium non-amyloid; paraphyses parallel to distinctly interwoven, usually
unbranched, rarely sparingly branched; tips slightly to distinctly thickened;
lateral paraphyses present; true columella absent; columella-like structures
rarely present in fused ascomata. Epihymenium usually colourless, occasionally
greyish or brownish, rarely yellowish, egranulose or granulose. Asci 1-8-spored,
clavate, non-amyloid. Ascospores 1–3-seriate, transversely septate to muriform,
colorless to yellowish or brown. Photobiont:
Ttrentepohlia
. - Several species are
known from Sri Lanka, e.g.
Th, heladiwensis
(Horton Plains), and
Th. pseudosimilans
(Dotalugala -Knuckles mountain
region).
Trypethelium
spp.
Thallus crustose, green to grey or yellowish, smooth to somewhat bullate, corticate. Perithecia simple, black, with or
without pseudostromatic tissues, globose, immersed in pseudostromata or erumpent, often at least the sides covered by
the thallus. Hamathecium colourless, occasionally inspersed with oil droplets. Ascospores 8 per ascus, IKI–, irregularly
biseriate, colourless, fusiform with subacute ends, symmetrically 3–19-septate, not constricted at the septa; immature
