Astrothelium megacrypticum
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| Astrothelium megacrypticum | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Ascomycota |
| Class: | Dothideomycetes |
| Order: | Trypetheliales |
| Family: | Trypetheliaceae |
| Genus: | Astrothelium |
| Species: | A. megacrypticum |
| Binomial name | |
| Astrothelium megacrypticum Lücking, M.P.Nelsen & N.Salazar (2016) | |
 | |
Astrothelium megacrypticum is a species of crustose lichen-forming fungus in the family Trypetheliaceae.[1][2] The lichen forms an olive-green crusty patch on tree bark with a distinctively bumpy, gall-like surface. Its reproductive structures are completely hidden within the lichen body and are unusual in that each spore sac contains only a single, exceptionally large ascospore rather than the typical eight spores. The species is known only from lower mountain rainforest in Panama, where it grows on roadside trees.
Astrothelium megacrypticum was described as a new species in 2016 by Robert Lücking, Matthew Nelsen, and Noris Salazar-Allen. The type was collected in Panama (Panamá Province), in Altos de Campana National Park west of Panama City, where it was found growing on bark along an access road through submontane rainforest at about 500–600 m (1,600–2,000 ft) elevation.[2]
The species is distinguished from the similar A. longisporum by its asci (spore-bearing sacs), which contain a single ascospore rather than eight, and by its larger ascospores. The specific epithet megacrypticum refers to the combination of cryptic (externally hidden) perithecia and exceptionally large ascospores. The species is also compared with A. colombiense, which shares solitary perithecia and large, muriform ascospores, but differs in having smaller spores, apically placed ostioles, and lacking the gall-like thallus bumps seen in A. megacrypticum.[2]