Cresponea lichenicola
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| Cresponea lichenicola | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Ascomycota |
| Class: | Arthoniomycetes |
| Order: | Arthoniales |
| Family: | Opegraphaceae |
| Genus: | Cresponea |
| Species: | C. lichenicola |
| Binomial name | |
| Cresponea lichenicola Aptroot & M.Cáceres (2014) | |
 Holotype: Parque Natural Municipal de Porto Velho, Brazil | |
Cresponea lichenicola is a species of lichenicolous (lichen-dwelling) fungus in the family Arthoniaceae.[1] Described from the Brazilian Amazon in 2014, this species is known from two Brazilian states, where it grows as a parasite on lichens of the genus Pyrenula in primary rainforests. Unlike typical members of its genus that form their own crusty growth on bark, this species lacks an independent body (thallus) and instead develops directly on the surface of its host lichen. It is distinguished by its small, solitary fruiting bodies dusted with bright greenish-yellow pruina and its narrow ascospores divided by 11 to 13 cross-walls—features that help separate it from the related bark-dwelling species C. flavosorediata.
Cresponea lichenicola was described as new in 2014 by André Aptroot and Marcela Cáceres. The type was collected by the authors from smooth tree bark in primary rainforest at Parque Natural Municipal de Porto Velho, Rondônia (Brazil), at an elevation of about 100 m (330 ft), where it was growing on the thallus of a Pyrenula lichen.[2]
The authors noted that this is the first Cresponea reported without a distinct thallus and with a lichenicolous lifestyle (i.e., living on another lichen rather than directly on bark). They considered it morphologically close to Cresponea flavosorediata, but that species has a typical bark-dwelling thallus with discrete soralia, larger apothecia, and broader ascospores with fewer septa.[2]