Astrothelium ecuadorense
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| Astrothelium ecuadorense | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Ascomycota |
| Class: | Dothideomycetes |
| Order: | Trypetheliales |
| Family: | Trypetheliaceae |
| Genus: | Astrothelium |
| Species: | A. ecuadorense |
| Binomial name | |
| Astrothelium ecuadorense Aptroot (2016) | |
Astrothelium ecuadorense 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 in the Estacion Cientifico San Francisco in the South Ecuadorian Andes (Zamora-Chinchipe Province); there, it was found in a mountainous rainforest growing on smooth tree bark. The lichen has a smooth and shiny, pale yellowish-green thallus with a cortex but lacking a prothallus, covering areas of up to 10 cm (4 in) in diameter. No lichen products were detected in the collected specimens.[2] The main characteristics of the lichen distinguishing it from others in Astrothelium are the lack of pseudocyphellae on the thallus, and the solitary, exposed, black ascomata.[3] It is also one of the few Astrothelium species with only two spores in its asci.[2]