''Corticifraga nephromatis'' is a species of lichenicolous fungus in the family

Gomphillaceae The Gomphillaceae are a family of lichens in the order Ostropales. Species in this family are found mostly in tropical regions. Genera According to a recent (2020) estimate, the Gomphillaceae comprise 26 genera and about 420 species. The followi ...

. Found in

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

, it was described as a new species by Sergio Pérez-Ortega. The type was found in the Hoonah-Angoon Census Area in the east arm of Glacier Bay, where it was growing on the

thallus Thallus (plural: thalli), from Latinized Greek (), meaning "a green shoot" or "twig", is the vegetative tissue of some organisms in diverse groups such as algae, fungi, some liverworts, lichens, and the Myxogastria. Many of these organisms wer ...

of the foliose lichen ''

Nephroma bellum ''Nephroma'' is a genus of medium to large foliose lichens. The genus has a widespread distribution. They are sometimes called kidney lichens, named after the characteristic kidney-shaped apothecia that they produce on the lower surface of their ...

''. 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 ...

refers to the

host A host is a person responsible for guests at an event or for providing hospitality during it. Host may also refer to: Places * Host, Pennsylvania, a village in Berks County People *Jim Host (born 1937), American businessman * Michel Host ...

lichen. The fungus can be distinguished from similar species by its

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: they lack

septa The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) is a regional public transportation authority that operates bus, rapid transit, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolleybus services for nearly 4 million people in five coun ...

and have an

ellipsoid An ellipsoid is a surface that may be obtained from a sphere by deforming it by means of directional scalings, or more generally, of an affine transformation. An ellipsoid is a quadric surface; that is, a surface that may be defined as the ...

shape with teardrop-shaped or acute ends. ''Corticifraga nephromatis'' is one of four species of ''

Corticifraga ''Corticifraga'' is a genus of lichenicolous fungi in the family Gomphillaceae. The genus was circumscribed by David Leslie Hawksworth and Rolf Santesson in 1990, with '' Corticifraga peltigerae'' assigned as the type species. Species *'' Cor ...

'' known to occur in Alaska.

References

Ostropales Fungi described in 2020 Lichenicolous fungi {{Ostropales-stub