Trypethelium tolimense
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| Trypethelium tolimense | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Ascomycota |
| Class: | Dothideomycetes |
| Order: | Trypetheliales |
| Family: | Trypetheliaceae |
| Genus: | Trypethelium |
| Species: | T. tolimense |
| Binomial name | |
| Trypethelium tolimense Lücking, B.Moncada & M.C.Gut. (2016) | |
 Type locality: Vereda El Tambo, Colombia | |
Trypethelium tolimense is a species of lichen-forming fungus in the family Trypetheliaceae.[1] The lichen forms a light olive-coloured crust on tree bark with a smooth to uneven surface. Its reproductive structures are grouped together in rounded to irregular clusters covered by a contrasting brownish-white layer with whitish translucent openings. Both the lichen body and the clusters fluoresce yellow under ultraviolet light. The species is known from disturbed lowland forest remnants in Colombia and has also been recorded from central-western Brazil.
Trypethelium tolimense was described as a new species by Robert Lücking, Bibiana Moncada, and Martha Cecilia Gutiérrez. The type was collected in Colombia (Tolima Department, Purificación area) from disturbed forest remnants on a finca at about 300–350 m (980–1,150 ft) elevation.[2]
The specific epithet refers to the geographic location of the type locality. The species has a typical Trypethelium growth form and spore type, but it can be separated from similar species by the combination of lichexanthone on the thallus and pseudostromata (UV+ yellow) and a pale yellow pigment within the pseudostromata that reacts K+ (yellow). It differs from T. xanthoplatystomum in lacking a yellow-orange pigment on the pseudostromata and in having a K+ yellow (rather than K+ red) medullary pigment.[2]
Among other lichexanthone-containing species of Trypethelium, T. regnellii and T. luteolucidum differ by having an inspersed hamathecium and larger ascospores, and they lack a medullary pigment. In T. xanthoplatystomum, the pseudostromata are covered with a yellow-orange pigment and the internal pigment is orange and reacts K+ (red); in other Trypethelium species with internal pigments, the reaction is K+ (red or purple) rather than K+ (yellow).[2]