Porto Santo: lichenized and lichenicolous fungi

Pictures of
PORTO SANTO lichens
and lichenicolous fungi

by H. Sipman, A. Aptroot...
last updated:
14 August 2019, 12 April 2021
Zschackia 10

Notes

Porto Santo is a small, volcanic island situated close to Madeira. Geologically it is about 10 million years older, and the current island is a small remain of what during the pliocene must have been a large island, like nowadays many other Macaronesian islands. This long history might explain the remarkable number of endemic macrolichens known from Porto Santo. Certainly the lichen diversity on the island is very special and merits strong protection.
The earliest lichen records from Porto Santo are summarized by Tavares (1952): the commercially exploited Roccella was reported first by J. da S. Feijó (1815); the first to study lichens in the field was Bowdich (1823); and the first lichen taxon described from PS was the endemic Ramalina nematodes, described as Ramalina siliquosa var. nematodes by Nylander (1870). Since 1987 several trained lichenologists have visited the island, paying attention mainly to the genus Ramalina.
In 2016 a lichenological expedition by lichenologists from Portugal, Spain, Brazil, Germany and the Netherlands started a more detailed examination of the lichens on the island. Preliminary results are presented in this website, which offers color pictures of many species. It is intended as a working document for easy exchange of identification results.
Most pictures are photographed from fresh specimens, either in the field or within a few months after collection in the lab using artificial light. This causes some variation in picture colors, which can be misleading, e.g. in the genus Calopaca. A few photos are from herbarium specimens about 30 years old, leg. Follmann, and accordingly are browned. The macrophotographs made in the laboratory are mostly from H. Sipman and A. Aptroot, the field pictures from M. Vervoort and A. Gerlach.
A remarkable feature of the collections is the abundance of Lecanorales with immersed black apothecia and Lecanora-type asci. After some speculation on the presence of tropical taxa on the island, they are now interpreted mostly as Lecanora praepostera and Tephromela atra damaged by grazing snails.

Relevant references

Bowdich, T. E. 1825: Excursions in Madeira and Porto Santo, during the autumn of 1823, while on his third voyage to Africa. - London.
Carvalho, P., Figueira, R. & Jones, M. P. 2008a: Os líquenes e fungos liquenícolas (Fungi) dos arquipélagos da Madeira e Selvagens [The lichens and lichenicolous fungi (Fungi) of the Madeira and Selvagens archipelagos]. – In: Borges, P. A. V., Abreu, C., Aguiar, A. M. F., Carvalho, P., Fontinha, S., Jardim, R., Melo, I., Oliveira, P., Sequeira, M. M., Sérgio, C., Serrano, A. R. M., Sim-Sim, M. & Vieira, P., Listagem dos fungos, flora e fauna terrestres dos arquipélagos da Madeira e Selvagens [A list of the terrestrial fungi, flora and fauna of Madeira and Selvagens archipelagos]. p. 95–103. Funchal, Angra do Heroísmo: Direcção Regional do Ambiente da Madeira and Universidade dos Açores.
Carvalho, P., Figueira, R. & Jones, M. P. 2008b: Lista dos líquenes e fungos liquenícolas (Fungi) [List of lichens and lichenicolous fungi (Fungi)]. – In: Borges, P. A. V., Abreu, C., Aguiar, A. M. F., Carvalho, P., Fontinha, S., Jardim, R., Melo, I., Oliveira, P., Sequeira, M. M., Sérgio, C., Serrano, A. R. M., Sim-Sim, M. & Vieira, P., Listagem dos fungos, flora e fauna terrestres dos arquipélagos da Madeira e Selvagens [A list of the terrestrial fungi, flora and fauna of Madeira and Selvagens archipelagos]. p. [105]–122. Funchal, Angra do Heroísmo: Direcção Regional do Ambiente da Madeira and Universidade dos Açores.
Follmann, G 1990: Zur Kenntnis der Flechtenflora und Flechtenvegetation von Madeira und den umliegenden Inseln. I. Chorologisch-soziologischer Abriss. - Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg 129: 91-102.
Giralt, M. & van Den Boom, P. P. 2011: The genus Buellia s.l. and some additional genera of Physciaceae in the Canary Islands. - Nova Hedwigia 92(1-2): 29-55.
Haugan, R. 1992: Anzia centrifuga, a new lichen species from Porto Santo, Madeira. - Mycotaxon 44(1): 45-50.
Krog, H. 1990: New Ramalina species from Porto Santo, Madeira. - Lichenologist 22(3): 241-247.
Krog, H. & Østhagen, H. 1980: Two new Ramalina species from Porto Santo, the Madeira Islands. - Norwegian Journal of Botany 27: 185-188.
Nylander, W. 1868: Lichenes. In: Cosson, E., Catalogue des plantes recueillis par G. Mandon, en 1865 et 1866, dans les Îles de Madère et de Porto Santo. - Bulletin de la Societé Botanique de France 15: 188-189.
Nylander, W. 1870: Recognitio monographica Ramalinarum. - Bulletin de la Societé Linnéenne de Normandie 4: 101-181.
Ribeiro, M. Luisa & Ramalho, M. 2010: A geological tour of the archipelago of Madeira. Lisbon. ISBN: 978-989-675-008-4
Sérusiaux, E., P. van den Boom, P. & Ertz, D. 2010: A two-gene phylogeny shows the lichen genus Niebla (Lecanorales) is endemic to the New Wold and does not occur in Macaronesia nor in the Mediterranean basin. - Fungal Biology 114: 528-537.
Silva Feijó, Joao da 1815: Sobre a Urzella de Cabo Verde. - Memorias economicas da Academia real das Sciencias de Lisboa V: 145-154.
Tavares, C. N. 1952: Contributions to the lichen flora of Macaronesia. I. Lichens from Madeira. - Portugaliae Acta Biol. (B) 3(3): 308-391.
Tehler, A. 1983: The genera Dirina and Roccellina. - Opera Botanica 70: 1-86.
Tehler, A., Dahlkild, A., Eldenas, P. & Feige, G. B. 2004: The phylogeny and taxonomy of Macaronesian, European and Mediterranean Roccella (Roccellaceae, Arthoniales). - Symbolae Botanicae Upsalienses 34(1): 405-428.
Timdal, E. 1992: A monograph of the genus Toninia (Lecideaceae, Ascomycetes). - Opera Botanica 110: 1-137.