Menegazzia minuta is a rare species of foliose lichen that is endemic to Tasmania, Australia. It was scientifically described as a new species in 1987 by lichenologists Peter James and Gintaras Kantvilas. The type specimen was collected by the second author south of Arthur River, where the lichen was found in a rainforest growing on twigs of leatherwood (Eucryphia lucida). The species epithet minuta refers to the small size of its thallus. Menegazzia minuta contains protolichesterinic acid, a lichen product that helps to distinguish it from the similar species Menegazzia eperforata, which instead contains stictic acid and related compounds.[1] In a 2012 publication, Kantvilas called M. minuta "one of Tasmania's rarest lichens", characterised by a "glossy olive-brown thallus of minute, spidery lobes, densely beset with lobule-like isidia".[2]

Menegazzia minuta
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Ascomycota
Class: Lecanoromycetes
Order: Lecanorales
Family: Parmeliaceae
Genus: Menegazzia
Species:
M. minuta
Binomial name
Menegazzia minuta

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Kantvilas, G.; James, P. W. (1987). "The macrolichens of Tasmanian rainforest: key and notes". The Lichenologist. 19 (1): 1–28. doi:10.1017/s0024282987000033.
  2. ^ Kantvilas, Gintaras (2012). "The genus Menegazzia (Lecanorales: Parmeliaceae) in Tasmania revisited". The Lichenologist. 44 (2): 189–246. doi:10.1017/s0024282911000685.