Galapagos Species Database

Thallus corticolous; placodioid leprose, i.e., developing upon a common, shared hypothallus, delimited by a byssoid arachnoid, ‘cottony’prothallus forming an irregular margin, not lobed or ‘crisped’; surface greenish gray to bluish green, in the herbarium fading to a pale yellowish green; hypothallus moderately to well developed, loose, ‘fluffy’, ‘cottony’; rhizohyphae sparse or absent; granules ecorticate, ill-defined, farinose [(25–)40–60(–70) µm in diam., rather fine and relatively uniform in size], generally loosely packed, typically with some protruding hyphae. Photobiont green, coccoid. Spot tests and chemistry. P, K± sordid yellow, KC, C; UV+ deeply ochraceous; zeorin, methyl barbatate, 4,5-dichlorolichexanthone, unknown terpenes (possibly from the bark substrate). Distribution and ecology. Galapagos endemic; on both native and introduced trees in the agricultural areas of the humid zone on the inhabited islands Santa Cruz and Floreana.