Coniarthonia megaspora
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| Coniarthonia megaspora | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Ascomycota |
| Class: | Arthoniomycetes |
| Order: | Arthoniales |
| Family: | Arthoniaceae |
| Genus: | Coniarthonia |
| Species: | C. megaspora |
| Binomial name | |
| Coniarthonia megaspora Aptroot, C.Mendonça & M.Cáceres (2015) | |
Coniarthonia megaspora is a species of lichen-forming fungus in the family Arthoniaceae.[1] It is a bark-dwelling lichen with a thin, dark brown crust and distinctive dark pink, irregularly shaped fruiting bodies, found in primary Atlantic Forest in Brazil. The species was described in 2015 and is named for its unusually large spores.
Coniarthonia megaspora was described as a new species by André Aptroot, Cléverton de Oliveira Mendonça, and Marcela Cáceres in 2015 from specimens collected in northeastern Brazil. The type material was collected by Marcela Cáceres, Cléverton de Oliveira Mendonça, and André Aptroot in the south slope of Serra de Itabaiana National Park (Sergipe, Brazil), at about 400 m (1,300 ft) elevation, on tree bark, (collection 21759). The holotype is housed in the fungarium of the Federal University of Sergipe in Itabaiana, Sergipe, Brazil. The species epithet megaspora refers to the large ascospores.[2]
The authors considered it most similar in overall appearance to Coniarthonia pulcherrima but separated it by its much larger, single-septum ascospores and by the unusual behavior of the spores, which can turn violet in tap water after release (seen best when a section is squashed).[2]