Parallopsora brakoae
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| Parallopsora brakoae | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Ascomycota |
| Class: | Lecanoromycetes |
| Order: | Lecanorales |
| Family: | Ramalinaceae |
| Genus: | Parallopsora |
| Species: | P. brakoae |
| Binomial name | |
| Parallopsora brakoae (Timdal) Kistenich, Timdal & Bendiksby (2018) | |
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| Synonyms[1] | |
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Parallopsora brakoae is a species of bark-dwelling, squamulose lichen in the family Ramalinaceae.[2] This small lichen forms thin mats of tiny, leaf-like scales on tree bark and reproduces through powdery soredia produced in lip-shaped patches on the underside of the scale tips. It is known only from a single collection in the Peruvian Amazon rainforest, where it was discovered growing on a large tree in a white-sand ridge habitat.
Phyllopsora brakoae was described as new to science in 2008 by Einar Timdal, who initially placed it in the genus Phyllopsora. The holotype was collected on the trunk of a large tree in lowland Amazon rainforest at the Allpahuayo-Mishana National Reserve, Loreto, Peru at an elevation between 120 and 150 m (390 and 490 ft). Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) detected no lichen substances in the type. In Timdal's revision, P. brakoae is among the first Phyllopsora species formally recorded to produce soredia (powdery propagules), expanding the genus concept to include sorediate taxa.[3] The taxon was transferred to Parallopsora in 2018.[4]