Galapagos Species Database
The Galapagos Species Database shares the information about the species from our Natural History Collections.
Megalospora galapagoensis
Galapagos false sunken disk lichen
Thallus yellowish grey to whitish grey, glossy, thick, uneven to slightly rugulose, up to 20 cm diameter. Soredia present, diffuse, starting out as coarse, corticated granules but soon becoming confluent and maculate. Apothecia round, 0.5–1.5 mm in diameter, up to 0.6 mm high, disc concave when young, becoming flat to slightly convex when mature, grey-black to black, glossy, epruinose. Margin prominent, thick, black. Excipulum brownish, K–. Epihymenium reddish brown, 10–20 μm thick. Hypothecium brown, 100–130 μm high. Hymenium 200–250 μm high, hyaline, strongly inspersed, amyloid. Ascospores single, hyaline, (3–)5-septate, 45–75 × 15–25 μm. Secondary chemistry: usnic acid and zeorin.
This species belongs in the Megalospora tuberculosa aggregate and could be included in that species in a wide sense (Sipman 1983). However, Harris (1984, 1986) reported that populations with pannarin instead of usnic acid, a sorediate thallus, and smaller ascospores represent an autonomous taxon which he recognized as M. porphyritis (Tuck.) R.C.Harris, a position adopted by other authors (Lücking 2007). The new species is intermediate between M. tuberculosa s. str. and M. porphyritis and represents a third species in this group. Thallus chemistry and the non-pruinose apothecia are as in M. tuberculosa s. str., but the (granular) soralia and the comparatively small ascospores with few septa recall M. porphyritis. The new species is potentially endemic to the Galápagos Islands, as no such material has yet been found among neotropical mainland populations of Megalospora.
Domain
Eukaryota
Kingdom
Fungi
Phylum
Ascomycota
Class
Lecanoromycetes
Order
Teloschistales
Family
Megalosporaceae
Genus
Megalospora
Species
galapagoensis
Taxon category: Accepted
Type:—ECUADOR. Galápagos: Isla Sán Cristóbal, trail from Cerro Pelado to El Ripioso, 0°52’S, 89°28’W, 392 m, transition zone, Psidium guajava forest with some old Hippomane mancinella trees and dense understory of Rubus niveus, Tournefortia rufosericea and Zanthoxylum fagara, on bark, S-exposed side of inclined Hippomane mancinella trunk (ca. 20 cm in diameter), semi-shaded, wind- and rain-sheltered, August 2008, Bungartz 8516 (holotype CDS-41162, isotype F).
Origin: Endemic
- Lumbsch, H.T. Ahti, T., Altermann, S., Amo de Paz, G., Aptroot, A., Arup, U., Bárcenas Peña, A., Bawingan, P.A., Benatti, M.N., Betancourt, L., Björk, C.R., Boonpragob, K., Brand, M., Bungartz, F., Cáceres, M.E.S., Candan, M., Chaves, J.L., Clerc, P., Common, R., Coppins, B.J., Crespo, A., Dal Forno, M., Divakar, P.K., Duya, M.V., Elix, J.A., Elvebakk, A.V., Fankhauser, J., Farkas, E., Ferraro, I.L., Fischer, E., Galloway, D.J., Gaya, E., Giralt, M., Goward, T., Grube, M., Hafellner, J., Hernández M., J.E., De los Ángeles Herrera Campos, M., Kalb, K., Kärnefelt, I., Kantvilas, G., Killmann, D., Kirika, P., Knudsen, K., Komposch, H., Kondratyuk, S., Lawrey, J.D., Mangold, A., Marcelli, M.P., McCune, B., Messuti, M.I., Michlig, A., Miranda Gonzáles, R., Moncada, B., Naikatini, A., Nelsen, M.P., Øvstedal, D.O., Palice, Z., Papong, K., Parnmen, S., Pérez-Ortega, S., Printzen, C., Rico, V.J., Robayo, J., Rosabal, D., Ruprecht, U., Salazar Allen, N., Sancho, L., Santos de Jesus, L., Santos Vieira, T., Schultz, M., Seaward, M.D.R., Sérusiaux, E., Schmitt, I., Sipman, H.J.M., Sohrabi, M., Søchting, U., Søgaard, M.Z., Sparrius, L.B., Spielmann, A., Spribille, T., Sutjaritturakan, J., Thammathaworn, A., Thor, G., Thüs, H., Timdal, E., Truong, C., Türk, R., Umaña Tenorio, L., Upreti, D.K., Van den Boom, P., Vivas Rebuelta, M., Wedin, M., Will-Wolf, S., Wirth, V., Wirtz, N., Yahr, R., Yeshitela, K., Ziemmeck, F., Lücking, R. (2010) One hundred new species of lichenized fungi: a signature of undiscovered global diversity. Phytotaxa 18: 1-127.
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This page should be cited as follows:
"Galapagos Species Database, Megalospora galapagoensis", dataZone. Charles Darwin Foundation, https://datazone.darwinfoundation.org/en/checklist/?species=12464. Accessed 4 May 2026.