Alum IDs new lichen in Bermuda


Provided
Lithothelium bermudense named by Scott LaGreca '91.

Exactly 100 years after the first comprehensive lichen biodiversity assessment on Bermuda, Scott LaGreca ’91 has discovered a lichen species new to science.

While exploring the Wasingham Nature Reserve, Bermuda’s last remaining primary growth forest, with colleague Franz Berger in 2007, the pair stumbled across lichen growing on limestone. Recent examination of the specimen indicated a species never before identified. The tiny, crust-like fungus has been named Lithothelium bermudense, which translates to “Bermuda rock nipple.”

The finding was published in Mycotaxon, a journal founded by Cornell emeritus professor Richard Korf, who died in August.

The discovery is the third Bermuda fungus species named by LaGreca. He is the curator of Cornell’s Plant Pathology Herbarium, the fourth-largest mycological herbarium in North America.

As a Cornell undergraduate, LaGreca studied mycology under Korf. Having his latest discovery appear in the journal founded by his mentor made it extra meaningful, said LaGreca.

“Our paper on this new species was the first paper published in that journal after Dr. Korf’s death, and I felt that was my way of commemorating him and thanking him for the guidance he provided me when I was an undergraduate.”

LaGreca and colleagues will continue looking through historic collections to develop a complete checklist of lichen fungi on Bermuda. The project is expected to last at least another year, after which he will refocus his efforts on molecular work to study how and when certain lichens arrived on the island.

- Gwen Aviles