Atla wheldonii | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Fungi |
Division: | Ascomycota |
Class: | Eurotiomycetes |
Order: | Verrucariales |
Family: | Verrucariaceae |
Genus: | Atla |
Species: | A. wheldonii
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Binomial name | |
Atla wheldonii | |
Synonyms [1] | |
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Atla wheldonii is a species of terricolous (ground-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Verrucariaceae. Found in Europe, it was formally described as a new species in 1947 by William Gladstone Travis from specimens collected from sand dunes in Lancashire, England, in 1924. [2] Sanja Savić and Leif Tibell transferred the taxon to genus Atla in 2008 following molecular phylogenetic analysis that showed that it, along with three other Northern European species, comprised a distinct clade in the Verrucariacae. [3]
In additional to the British Isles, Atla wheldonii has also been recorded in the Pyrenees, [4] Austria, [5] and Scandinavia. It grows on basic soil, usually alongside mosses and cyanobacteria; typical lichen associates include Thelocarpon impressellum and Solorina spongiosa, and sometimes Polyblastia helvetica. Atla wheldonii has a thin and poorly developed thallus, and ascomata in the forms or perithecia that are immersed in the thallus. [3]