Arthonia toensbergii
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Arthonia toensbergii | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Ascomycota |
| Class: | Arthoniomycetes |
| Order: | Arthoniales |
| Family: | Arthoniaceae |
| Genus: | Arthonia |
| Species: | A. toensbergii |
| Binomial name | |
| Arthonia toensbergii Holien & Frisch (2018) | |
 | |
Arthonia toensbergii is a species of lichenicolous (lichen-dwelling) fungus in the family Arthoniaceae.[2] It occurs in old-growth boreal rainforests in Norway, where it parasitises the lichen Mycoblastus affinis growing on trunks and branches of Norway spruce.
The fungus was formally described as a new species in 2018 by the lichenologists Håkon Holien and Andreas Frisch. The type specimen was collected by Holien along the rover Svorka in Meldal Municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county (now part of Orkland Municipality), where it was found growing on Picea abies twigs in an old spruce forest. The species epithet honours the Norwegian lichenologist Tor Tønsberg, on the occasion of his 70th birthday.[1]
Molecular phylogenetics analysis shows that Arthonia toensbergii has a sister taxon relationship with the rare Scandinavian species Arthonia protoparmeliae, and that these two species form a clade that is itself sister to a clade containing Arthonia peltigera and Bryostigma muscigenum. All of these species are members of the so-called Bryostigma clade, which includes many lichenicolous Arthoniaceae.[3]
