Rimularia
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| Rimularia | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Rimularia gibbosa | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Ascomycota |
| Class: | Lecanoromycetes |
| Order: | Baeomycetales |
| Family: | Trapeliaceae |
| Genus: | Rimularia Nyl. (1868) |
| Type species | |
| Rimularia limborina Nyl. (1868) | |
Rimularia is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Trapeliaceae.[1] Established by the Finnish lichenologist William Nylander in 1868 from specimens collected on granitic rocks in France, the genus comprises 14 accepted species as of 2025. These rock-dwelling lichens form thin, crust-like growths that range from reddish-brown to dark olive-brown in colour and produce small black fruiting bodies with distinctive branched internal structures.
Rimularia was circumscribed by the Finnish lichenologist William Nylander in 1868. In his original description of the genus, Nylander characterized Rimularia as having a thin, ash-grey thallus that is either smooth or slightly roughened, with black fruiting bodies (apothecia) that are either flush with the surface or slightly raised. He noted that the spores are colourless, simple (undivided), and elliptical in shape, measuring about 0.018–0.025 millimetres in length. Nylander distinguished this new genus from related groups by several key features: unlike pyrenocarpous lichens, Rimularia lacks the small pore-like openings (ostioles) typical of that group, and unlike Mycoporum and Acarospora, it does not have the disc-shaped or flask-shaped fruiting body structure characteristic of those genera.[2]
Nylander established Rimularia based on collections from granitic rocks in Gaul and Haute-Vienne, France, where it was found growing alongside Lecanora cinereae var. gibbosae. He noted that while the genus might appear similar to certain Pertusaria species at first glance, it could be reliably distinguished by the continuous nature of its thallus and the distinctive structure of its fruiting bodies, which lack the characteristic features found in the related genus Pertusaria.[2]