Alyxoria ochrocheila

Alyxoria ochrocheila is a species of lichen in the family Lecanographaceae. It has a cosmopolitan distribution, and was formally described by William Nylander in 1865.

Alyxoria ochrocheila
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Fungi
Division:	Ascomycota
Class:	Arthoniomycetes
Order:	Arthoniales
Family:	Lecanographaceae
Genus:	Alyxoria
Species:	A. ochrocheila
Binomial name
Alyxoria ochrocheila (Nyl.) Ertz & Tehler
Synonyms[1]
Synonymy Opegrapha atra f. ochrocheila (Nyl.) Leight. Opegrapha atricolor Stirt. Opegrapha ochrocheila Nyl. Opegrapha rubescens Sandst.

Description

Alyxoria ochrocheila has an effuse thallus, lacks a prothallus, and is white to white-grey in colour. It is often mistaken for Opegrapha sp., but can be identified due to having distinct orange pruina that turn purple when spot-tested with potassium hydroxide.^[2]

Taxonomy

The species was first described by William Nylander in 1865, under the name Opegrapha ochrocheila.^[3] It was recombined in 2010 and placed in the genus Alyxoria by Damien Ertz and Anders Tehler, based on phylogenetic analysis.^[4]

Distribution

The species is distributed globally, often found in Europe , North America, Africa, Papua New Guinea and the Philippines.^[2] It was first identified as occurring in New Zealand in 2016, from a specimen collected from a silver fern trunk in Hillsborough Cemetery in Auckland, New Zealand.^[2]