Galapagos Species Database
The Galapagos Species Database shares the information about the species from our Natural History Collections.
Vigneronia spieri
Scribble lichen, liquen grabatos
Thallus white to a pinkish to ochraceous, covering roundish areas to 10 cm diam., less than 0.1 mm thick, non-corticate, with Trentepohlia photobiont, usually surrounded by a gray prothallus as much as 2 mm wide. Ascomata numerous, sessile, round to usually elongate and lirelline, unbranched to sparingly branched, to ca. 4 1 mm, surrounded by a ca. 0.1 mm wide thalline margin of thallus color and structure. Epithecium ochraceous to orange-brown, KOH-; hymenium not inspersed, 100–180 mm high; hypothecium and often also stipe black to blackish brown, upper layer (subhymenium) often orange-brown, rarely pale brown; excipulum dark brown, KOH+ greenish, forming hyaline to yellowish crystals not dissolving in KOH in a squash preparation; paraphysoids ca. 1 mm wide, branched and anastomosing; asci cylindrical, ca 100–130 7–12 mm; ascospores (2–)3-septate, thick-walled (1–1.5 mm), hyaline, fusiform, straight or somewhat curved, 30–37(–39) (3–)5–6 mm, generally surrounded by a very thin gelatinous sheath to 0.5 mm wide. Conidiomata usually present, punctiform, black, ca. 0.1 mm diam.; conidia hyaline, curved, 10–17 0.7–1.0 mm. Chemistry: Thallus C+ red (at least around ascomata or ascomata margins), KOH-, PD-, UV-. erythrin with often a trace of gyrophoric acid (TLC).
Domain
Eukaryota
Kingdom
Fungi
Phylum
Ascomycota
Class
Arthoniomycetes
Order
Arthoniales
Family
Roccellaceae
Genus
Vigneronia
Species
spieri
Taxon category: Accepted
Acc. name: Vigneronia spieri (Aptroot & Sparrius) Ertz & Bungartz Type: ECUADOR. Galapagos: Isabela Island, Cerro Alcedo, highest cinder cone along the trail going up the E slope, 0º 23’37”S, 91º01’31”W, 250 m, arid lowlands with basalt outcrops, at the bottom scattered Bursera graveolens trees and shrubs of Castela galapageia, on bark of Bursera graveolens, 10 Mar 2006, Aptroot 65014 (holotype CDS 31595; isotype ABL).
Origin: Native
Map of specimen collection localities or observation records for this species in our collections database.
Distribution: Originally believed endemic to the Galapagos, but recently found at the coast of Ecuadorian mainland. Common on trees, both coastal and inland, this species is one of the first colonizers in dry areas, especially on Bursera. It is known from three islands, Isabela, Santa Cruz and Santiago.
- Aptroot, A. Sparrius, L.B. (2008) Crustose Roccellaceae in the Galapagos Islands, with the new species Schismatomma spierii. The Bryologist 111(4): 659-666.
- Ertz, D. Tehler, A., Irestedt, M., Frisch, A., Thor, G., van den Boom, P. (2014) A large-scale phylogenetic revision of Roccellaceae (Arthoniales) reveals eight new genera Fungal Diversity, DOI 10.1007/s13225-014-0286-5
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This page should be cited as follows:
"Galapagos Species Database, Vigneronia spieri", dataZone. Charles Darwin Foundation, https://datazone.darwinfoundation.org/en/checklist/?species=18317. Accessed 3 November 2026.