Coniarthonia aurata
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| Coniarthonia aurata | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Ascomycota |
| Class: | Arthoniomycetes |
| Order: | Arthoniales |
| Family: | Arthoniaceae |
| Genus: | Coniarthonia |
| Species: | C. aurata |
| Binomial name | |
| Coniarthonia aurata E.L.Lima, M.Cáceres & Aptroot (2013) | |
Coniarthonia aurata is a species of crustose lichen-forming fungus in the family Arthoniaceae.[1] It is characterized by its mustard-yellow, hemispherical fruiting structures that give the thallus a granular appearance. The species is known from northeastern Brazil, where it grows on tree bark in Caatinga vegetation.
Coniarthonia aurata was described as a new species in 2013 from northeastern Brazil, based on material collected in Vale do Catimbau National Park (Pernambuco) on tree bark at about 900 m (3,000 ft) elevation. The holotype (E. L. Lima 684) is housed in ISE.[2]
The authors placed the species (somewhat schematically) in Coniarthonia because it matches the genus in its weakly differentiated, hydrophobic-looking ascigerous (ascus-producing) structures, club-shaped asci, and single-septum ascospores, as well as the presence of pigmented crystals in the ascoma. It differs from previously known species in the genus by having mustard-yellow (rather than red) crystals, and it is further distinguished by its unusual "soralium-like" fruiting structures that contain loosely arranged asci. In overall appearance it can resemble a sterile Tylophoron (whitish thallus with spot-like patches), but C. aurata is fertile and the patches are mustard yellow rather than nearly black.[2]