''Cladonia inflata'' is a rare species of terricolous (ground-dwelling)

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.Cladoniaceae. Found in Bahia, Brazil, it was formally described as a new species in 2018 by lichenologists

André Aptroot André Aptroot (Heemskerk, 1961) is a Dutch mycologist and lichenologist. In 1993 he did his PhD at the University of Utrecht under the supervision of Robbert Gradstein (nl). His dissertation was titled "Systematic studies on pyrenocarpous li ...

and Marcela Eugenia da Silva Cáceres. The type specimen was collected by the authors from Palmeiras, on the Mount of Pai Inácio (part of the Chapada Diamantina mountains), at an altitude between ; here the lichen was found growing on siliceous sandstone rock in a

transitional forest Forest transition refers to a geographic theory describing a reversal or turnaround in land-use trends for a given territory from a period of net forest area loss (i.e., deforestation) to a period of net forest area gain. The term "landscape turn ...

. ''Cladonia inflata'' is only known to occur at the

type locality Type locality may refer to: * Type locality (biology) * Type locality (geology) See also * Local (disambiguation) * Locality (disambiguation) {{disambiguation ...

, and is only known from the type specimen. At this location the lichen is conspicuous but not abundant, and forms extensive mats with many other '' Cladonia'' species, such as '' C. bahiana'', '' C. clathrata'', '' C. dissecta'', '' C. divaricata'', '' C. friabilis'', '' C. furfuracea'', '' C. metaminiata'', '' C. miniata'', '' C. obscurata'', '' C. parvipes'', '' C. pityrophylla'', '' C. polyscypha'', '' C. salmonea'', '' C. secundana'', and '' C. substellata''. The lichen has a fruticose (bushy), mineral-grey thallus that consists of upright hollow podetia measuring about high, atop a cushion up to in diameter. It contains the secondary compound fumarprotocetraric acid. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''inflata'' refers to the inflated thallus of the lichen.

References

inflata Lichen species Lichens described in 2018 Lichens of Northeast Brazil Taxa named by André Aptroot Taxa named by Marcela Cáceres {{Lecanorales-stub