''Bagliettoa marmorea'' is a species of saxicolous (rock-dwelling),

crustose lichen Crustose lichens are lichens that form a crust which strongly adheres to the Substrate (biology), substrate (soil, rock, tree bark, etc.), making separation from the substrate impossible without destruction. The basic structure of crustose lichen ...

in the family

Verrucariaceae The Verrucariaceae are a family of mostly lichenised fungi in the order Verrucariales. The lichen-forming species, which comprise the vast majority of the family, have a wide variety of thallus forms, and include crustose (crust-like), foliose ( ...

. It is

endolithic An endolith or endolithic is an organism ( archaeon, bacterium, fungus, lichen, algae or amoeba) that is able to acquire the necessary resources for growth in the inner part of a rock, mineral, coral, animal shells, or in the pores between min ...

calcareous Calcareous () is an adjective meaning "mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate", in other words, containing lime or being chalky. The term is used in a wide variety of scientific disciplines. In zoology ''Calcareous'' is used as an adje ...

rocks, meaning it grows under and around the rock crystals. The colour of the lichen is purple to pink, although sometimes it is grey with purple pigments visible only around the perithecia. It does not have a shield-shaped involucrellum, which is typical of several other species in genus ''

Bagliettoa ''Bagliettoa'' is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Verrucariaceae. The genus was circumscribed by Italian lichenologist Abramo Bartolommeo Massalongo in 1853. ''Bagliettoa'' species are endolithic An endolith or endolithic is ...

''. The excipulum (the rim of tissue around the ascomata) measures 0.2–0.3 mm in diameter and lacks colour other than the upper part, which is purple.

Ascospore An ascus (; ) is the sexual spore-bearing cell produced in ascomycete fungi. Each ascus usually contains eight ascospores (or octad), produced by meiosis followed, in most species, by a mitotic cell division. However, asci in some genera or s ...

s are 13–30 by 9–15

μm The micrometre ( international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: μm) or micrometer (American spelling), also commonly known as a micron, is a unit of length in the International System of Unit ...

. ''Bagliettoa marmorea'' is widespread in Europe. It has also been recorded from North America, although it is not certain if this represents a distinct species. The lichen was first scientifically described by Italian naturalist

Giovanni Antonio Scopoli Giovanni Antonio Scopoli (sometimes Latinisation of names, Latinized as Johannes Antonius Scopolius) (3 June 1723 – 8 May 1788) was an Italian physician and natural history, naturalist. His biographer Otto Guglia named him the "first anational ...

in 1772, as a member of the

eponym An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

ous genus ''Lichen''. It had been shuffled to several genera in its

taxonomic Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

history, before being transferred to ''

'' in 2007.

References

Verrucariales Lichen species Lichens described in 1772 Lichens of Europe Lichens of North America Taxa named by Giovanni Antonio Scopoli {{Eurotiomycetes-stub