{{Short description|Single-species lichen genus}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2025}} {{Use Oxford spelling|date=August 2025}} {{Speciesbox | image = | image_caption= | parent_authority = Rambold (1994) | taxon = Amylora cervinocuprea | authority = (Arnold) Rambold (1994) | synonyms_ref = <ref name="Species Fungorum synonymy"/> | synonyms = *''Aspicilia cervinocuprea'' {{au|Arnold (1876)}} *''Lecanora cervinocuprea'' {{au|(Arnold) Mig. (1926)}} }}
'''''Amylora''''' is a fungal genus in the family Trapeliaceae.<ref name="Wijayawardene et al. 2020"/> It is a monospecific genus,<ref name="CoL_62C6Q"/> containing the single species '''''Amylora cervinocuprea''''', a lichen. This rare lichen forms crusty patches that break into small, tile-like sections on rock surfaces in high-elevation mountain environments. It is known only from a few locations in the eastern Alps of Austria and Switzerland, where it grows in extreme alpine conditions. Both the genus and the species were newly described by Gerhard Rambold in 1994.<ref name="Rambold 1994"/>
==Description==
''Amylora'' is a monospecific genus; its sole species, ''Amylora cervinocuprea'', forms a crust-like thallus that breaks into small, tile-like patches ({{lichengloss|areoles}}) with a smooth surface and slightly lobed, outlined margins ({{lichengloss|effigurate}}). The thallus is covered by a compact "skin" (a {{lichengloss|paraplectenchymatous}} cortex made of brick-like cells) overlain by a well-developed, very thin outer film ({{lichengloss|epicortex}}). Beneath this is a continuous layer of the photosynthetic partner (the {{lichengloss|algal layer}}) and a medulla (the inner, cottony part of the lichen). The medulla gives a blue reaction with iodine (an amyloid reaction), and its hyphae are bead-like ({{lichengloss|moniliform}}).<ref name="Lumbsch 1997"/>
The sexual fruiting bodies (apothecia) are sunken in the thallus; their exposed {{lichengloss|discs}} are brown to blackish brown. The rim ({{lichengloss|true exciple}}) is weak and ring-like, with a dark greenish outer zone and a clear to yellowish inner zone. The tissue between the asci (paraphyses) consists of threads that branch and fuse ({{lichengloss|anastomose}}) and are slightly thickened at their tips; the jelly in which the asci are embedded gives a pale amyloid reaction. The asci are club-shaped, contain eight ascospores, and show a diagnostic iodine-positive architecture: the outer wall and the {{lichengloss|tholus}} (thickened apex) stain blue, with an amyloid "cap" and amyloid margins around a central clear area; two deeper-blue, tube-like zones can be seen around that centre. This pattern matches what authors term the ''Rimularia''-type ascus; it is stable even after pretreating the tissue with potassium hydroxide solution. The spores themselves are colourless (hyaline), one-celled, ellipsoid, and surrounded by a conspicuous gelatinous sheath (a {{lichengloss|halo}}). <ref name="Lumbsch 1997"/>
Asexual propagules are produced in simple, sunken pycnidia within the thallus; these structures release narrow, rod-shaped ({{lichengloss|bacilliform}}) conidia. Chemically, ''Amylora'' contains 5-''O''-methylhiascic acid as its major lichen product; this substance is otherwise often only a minor component in lichens characterised by the gyrophoric acid chemosyndrome, and its prominence here has been used as a supporting {{lichengloss|character}} in classification. Developmentally, the sexual structures begin just beneath the algal layer with curved female organs ({{lichengloss|ascogonia}}) that produce receptive filaments ({{lichengloss|trichogynes}}). Early stages resemble those seen in ''Placopsis'': an undifferentiated {{lichengloss|primordium}} forms, then separates into an upper zone with {{lichengloss|paraphysoids}} and a lower zone with {{lichengloss|ascogenous}} hyphae, before true paraphyses and asci replace the paraphysoids to form the mature hymenium. The overall development is weakly {{lichengloss|hemiangiocarpous}}—i.e., only partially covered in the early stages, with the cover breaking as the apothecium matures—and the {{lichengloss|hamathecium}} at maturity consists of true paraphyses. <ref name="Lumbsch 1997"/>
==Habitat and distribution==
''Amylora cervinocuprea'' is known from the Alps of Austria (Tyrol) and eastern Switzerland. Austrian records include Obergurgl in the Ötztal, the {{ill|Breslauer Hütte|de}} area, {{ill|Ötztaler Urkund|de}} in the Pitztal, and the Riffelsee area. Swiss material comes from Fimbertal near the Heidelberger Hütte. These records indicate a distribution centred in high-mountain localities of the eastern Alps.<ref name="Lumbsch 1997"/>
==References== {{Reflist|refs=
<ref name="CoL_62C6Q">{{Catalogue of Life |id=62C6Q |title=''Amylora'' |access-date=25 July 2024}}</ref>
<ref name="Lumbsch 1997">{{citation |last=Lumbsch |first=H. Thorsten |title=Systematic studies in the suborder Agyriineae (Lecanorales) |journal=The Journal of the Hattori Botanical Laboratory |year=1997 |volume=83 |doi=10.18968/jhbl.83.0_1 |pages=1–73}}</ref>
<ref name="Species Fungorum synonymy">{{cite web |title=Synonymy. Current Name: ''Amylora cervinocuprea'' (Arnold) Rambold, Bull. Soc. linn. Provence 45: 344 (1994) |url=https://www.speciesfungorum.org/Names/SynSpecies.asp?RecordID=363086 |publisher=Species Fungorum |access-date=30 August 2025}}</ref>
<ref name="Wijayawardene et al. 2020">{{cite journal |display-authors=6 |last1=Wijayawardene |first1=Nalin |last2=Hyde |first2=Kevin |first3=LKT |last3=Al-Ani |first4=S |last4=Dolatabadi |last5=Stadler |first5=Marc |last6=Haelewaters |first6=Danny |last7=Tsurykau |first7=Andrei |last8=Mesic |first8=Armin |last9=Navathe |first9=Sudhir |last10=Papp |first10=Viktor |last11=Oliveira Fiuza |first11=Patrícia |last12=Vázquez |first12=Víctor |last13=Gautam |first13=Ajay |last14=Becerra |first14=Alejandra G. |last15=Ekanayaka |first15=Anusha |last16=K. C. |first16=Rajeshkumar |last17=Bezerra |first17=Jadson |last18=Matočec |first18=Neven |last19=Maharachchikumbura |first19=Sajeewa |last20=Suetrong |first20=Satinee |year=2020 |title=Outline of Fungi and fungus-like taxa |journal=Mycosphere |volume=11 |pages=1060–1456 |doi=10.5943/mycosphere/11/1/8 |doi-access=free |hdl=10481/61998 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>
<ref name="Rambold 1994">{{cite journal |last=Rambold |first=G. |year=1994 |title=''Amylora'', a new genus in the Rimulariaceae |journal=Bulletin de la Société Linnéenne de Provence |volume=45 |pages=343–348}}</ref>
}}
{{Taxonbar |from1=Q10409426 |from2=Q4749555 |from3=Q59420190 |from4=Q107909575}}
Category:Baeomycetales Category:Lichen genera Category:Baeomycetales genera Category:Taxa described in 1994 Category:Taxa named by Gerhard Rambold