Astrothelium lucidomedullatum

Astrothelium lucidomedullatum is a species of corticolous (bark-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Trypetheliaceae.[1] Found in Ecuador, it was formally described as a new species in 2016 by Dutch lichenologist André Aptroot. The type specimen was collected by Harrie Sipman from the Reserva Biológica San Francisco (Cordillera Numbala, Zamora-Chinchipe) at an altitude of 2,025 m (6,644 ft); there, it was found in a rainforest growing on smooth bark. The lichen has a quite smooth and shiny, pale ochraceous-green thallus with a cortex but lacking a prothallus, covering areas of up to 5 cm (2 in) in diameter. The medulla contains lichexanthone, a lichen product that causes its tissue to fluoresce when lit with a long-wavelength UV light.[2] The main characteristics of the lichen distinguishing it from others in Astrothelium are its ascospores, which number four per ascus and have dimensions of 80–115 by 25–35 μm; the presence of lichexanthone in the medulla; and the structure of the immersed ascomata, which have separate ostioles and are covered by the thallus.[3]

Astrothelium lucidomedullatum
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Ascomycota
Class: Dothideomycetes
Order: Trypetheliales
Family: Trypetheliaceae
Genus: Astrothelium
Species:
A. lucidomedullatum
Binomial name
Astrothelium lucidomedullatum
Aptroot (2016)

References

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  1. ^ "Astrothelium lucidomedullatum Aptroot". Catalogue of Life. Species 2000: Leiden, the Netherlands. Retrieved 30 October 2022.
  2. ^ Aptroot, André; Ertz, Damien; Etayo Salazar, Javier Angel; Gueidan, Cécile; Mercado Diaz, Joel Alejandro; Schumm, Felix; Weerakoon, Gothamie (2016). "Forty-six new species of Trypetheliaceae from the tropics". The Lichenologist. 48 (6): 609–638. doi:10.1017/s002428291600013x. S2CID 89128070.
  3. ^ Aptroot, André; Lücking, Robert (2016). "A revisionary synopsis of the Trypetheliaceae (Ascomycota: Trypetheliales)". The Lichenologist. 48 (6): 763–982. doi:10.1017/s0024282916000487. S2CID 89119724.