Astrothelium laurerosphaerioides
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| Astrothelium laurerosphaerioides | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Ascomycota |
| Class: | Dothideomycetes |
| Order: | Trypetheliales |
| Family: | Trypetheliaceae |
| Genus: | Astrothelium |
| Species: | A. laurerosphaerioides |
| Binomial name | |
| Astrothelium laurerosphaerioides Aptroot (2016) | |
Astrothelium laurerosphaerioides is a species of corticolous (bark-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Trypetheliaceae.[1] Found in Guyana, it was formally described as a new species in 2016 by Dutch lichenologist André Aptroot. The type specimen was collected by Harrie Sipman on Kusad Mountain (Rupununi savannah, Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) at an altitude of 450 m (1,480 ft); there, it was found in a savanna growing on smooth tree bark. The lichen has a smooth and shiny, pale ochraceous-green thallus with a cortex, which covers areas of up to 15 cm (6 in) in diameter. An anthraquinone compound was the only lichen product detected in the collected specimens using thin-layer chromatography.[2] The characteristics of the lichen distinguishing it from others in Astrothelium are its immersed-erumpent ascomata that have an exposed blackish area around their ostioles; the presence of two ascospores per ascus, and the dimensions of the spores (110–130 by 30–35 μm).[3]