''Astrothelium laevithallinum'' is a species of corticolous (bark-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family

Trypetheliaceae The Trypetheliaceae are a family of mainly lichen-forming fungi in the order Trypetheliales. Genera *'' Alloarthopyrenia'' – 1 sp. *''Aptrootia'' – 3 spp. *'' Architrypethelium'' – 8 spp. *''Astrothelium'' – ca. 275 spp. *'' Bathel ...

. Found in Brazil, it was formally described as a new species in 2016 by

Robert Lücking Robert Lücking (born 1964) is a German lichenologist. He is a leading expert on foliicolous lichens–lichens that live on leaves. Life and career Born in Ulm in 1964, Lücking earned both his master's (1990) and PhD degree (1994) at the Univer ...

, Matthew Nelsen, and Marcelo Marcelli. The type specimen was collected by the first author from the Santuário do Caraça (Reserva Particular do Patrimônio Natural, Minas Gerais) at an altitude between ; there, in

Atlantic Forest The Atlantic Forest ( pt, Mata Atlântica) is a South American forest that extends along the Atlantic coast of Brazil from Rio Grande do Norte state in the northeast to Rio Grande do Sul state in the south and inland as far as Paraguay and th ...

, it was found in a forest remnant near a waterfall. The lichen has a smooth to uneven, green thallus that covers areas of up to in diameter. The species epithet ''laevithallinum'' alludes to the contrast between its smooth thallus and the thallus of its phylogenetically distinct but close relative, '' Astrothelium endochryseum''. The characteristic of the lichen that distinguishes ''A. laevithallinum'' from others in genus '' Astrothelium'' is the smooth thallus.

References

laevithallinum Lichen species Lichens described in 2016 Taxa named by Robert Lücking Lichens of Brazil {{Dothideomycetes-stub