Seirophora lacunosa

Thallus fruticose, grey, terricolous, forming cushions, with broad and flattened lacinia.
Reproduction: Orange apothecia (2-11) mm, with a grey margin; thallus fragmentation.
Photobiont: Chlorococcoid.
Spot tests: Thallus K-; apothecia and pycnidia K+ purple.
Chemistry (Seirophora genus): apothecial disc, and sometimes also thallus, with parietin (major), fallacinal, teloschistin, and parietinic acid (all minor), and emodin (minor).

Habitat: Terricolous steppe, living directly on gypsum and clay soils, or at the base of plants and shrubs, also can occur as a vagrant lichen.
Distribution: Species of the arid steppes and semi-steppes, which extends from the Russian steppes to the Gobi and Negev deserts. In the Iberian Peninsula, steppes of the Ebro valley and the desert of Almeria.
Position in classification: Teloschistaceae, Teloschistales, Lecanoromycetidae, Lecanoromycetes, Pezizomycotina, Ascomycota, Fungi.
 

Species included in the catalogue of autochthonous and threatened flora of Catalonia,  category ENDANGERED (EN).

Source: Google earth - Bellmunt-Almenara Natural Area

Locality data:
Ecology, geology: On soil, Plandogau soil, WRB World Soil Reference Haplic Gypsisol (Siltic); Soil Taxonomy: Gypsic Haploxerepts, Association of gypsum Haploxerepts. The soils of the Plandogau cartographic unit are very deep, well drained, of medium textures with few coarse elements. They were formed on terrigenous detrital materials rich in gypsum. They present many vermiform secondary accumulations and gypsum crystals, which give rise to a gypsum horizon.
Altitude: 275 m
Location: La Sentiu de Sió, Bellmunt-Almenara Natural Protected Area (La Noguera)
Climate: Dry Continental Mediterranean (Tmm=13ºC, P=400 mm)
 
 
Etymology of names:
Seirophora is a genus circumscribed by Josef Poelt in 1983; the epithet lacunosa from Latin “lacuna” meaning lake.

Bibliography:
Frödén, Patrik; Lassen, Per (2004). "Typification and emendation of Seirophora Poelt to include species segregated from Teloschistes Norman". The Lichenologist. 36 (5): 289–298.
Index Fungorum https://www.indexfungorum.org/names/NamesRecord.asp?RecordID=487872
Nimis P.L., 2024. ITALIC - The Information System on Italian Lichens. Version 7.0. University of Trieste, Dept. of Biology, (https://dryades.units.it/italic), accessed on 2024/07/13. for all. All data are released under a CC BY-SA 4.0 licence. https://italic.units.it/index.php?procedure=genuspage&ID_genus=349
Poelt, J. (1983). "Musterbeispiele analoger Lagerdifferenzierung bei Flechten: Almbornia, Speerschneidera, Seirophora gen. nov" [Exemplary cases of analog differential storage in lichens: Almbornia, Speerschneidera, Seirophora gen nov.]. Flora, Regensburg 174 (5/6): 439–445.