''Crustospathula'' is a genus of five species of crustose lichens in the family

Malmideaceae Malmideaceae is a family of crustose and corticolous lichens in the order Lecanorales. It contains eight genera and about 70 species. Taxonomy Malmideaceae was created in 2011 to accommodate a group of species, formerly placed in genus ''Malcolm ...

. They are characterized by their stalked and sometimes branched cartilaginous soredia and ''

Bacidia ''Bacidia'' is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Ramalinaceae. The genus was circumscribed by Giuseppe De Notaris in 1846. Species in the genus are crust-like lichens with stemless apothecia; they have green algae (chloroccoid) as p ...

''-like apothecia.

Taxonomy

''Crustospathula'' was

circumscribed In geometry, the circumscribed circle or circumcircle of a polygon is a circle that passes through all the vertices of the polygon. The center of this circle is called the circumcenter and its radius is called the circumradius. Not every polyg ...

by lichenologist

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 ...

in 1998, with '' Crustospathula cartilaginea'' as the type species. This species was discovered by Aptroot in Madang Province, Papua New Guinea in an undisturbed tropical lowland rain forest. It was, according to Aptroot, the known instance of a crustose lichen with stalked, cartilaginous, labriform

soralia Soredia are common reproductive structures of lichens. Lichens reproduce asexually by employing simple fragmentation and production of soredia and isidia. Soredia are powdery propagules composed of fungal hyphae wrapped around cyanobacteria o ...

. For this reason, it could not be assigned to any known genera, and ''Crustospathula'' was created to hold it. Aptroot initially assigned the genus tentatively to the family Bacidiaceae, because of the resemblance of generative structures with certain species of ''

''. It was later in the Ramalinaceae, until

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

analysis determined that its true placement belonged in the Malmideaceae.

Description

''Crustospathula'' species are crustose with stalked and cartilaginous soredia that are labriform (lip-shaped) or crenately (scalloped) lobed. The ascospores are rod-shaped and often curved or bent. They contain between 0 and 3 septa, and measure 20–25 by 0.8–1.5 um. The lichens contain the

secondary Secondary may refer to: Science and nature * Secondary emission, of particles ** Secondary electrons, electrons generated as ionization products * The secondary winding, or the electrical or electronic circuit connected to the secondary winding i ...

compounds atranorin and 2'-O-methylperlatolic acid.

Species

*'' Crustospathula amazonica'' Aptroot, M.Cáceres & Timdal (2014) – Brazil *'' Crustospathula cartilaginea'' Aptroot (1998) – Papua New Guinea *''

Crustospathula humboldtii ''Crustospathula'' is a genus of five species of crustose lichens in the family Malmideaceae. They are characterized by their stalked and sometimes branched cartilaginous soredia and ''Bacidia''-like apothecia. Taxonomy ''Crustospathula'' wa ...

'' Kalb (2011) – Venezuela *''

Crustospathula khaoyaiana ''Crustospathula'' is a genus of five species of crustose lichens in the family Malmideaceae. They are characterized by their stalked and sometimes branched cartilaginous soredia and ''Bacidia''-like apothecia. Taxonomy ''Crustospathula'' wa ...

'' Kalb & Mongk. (2012) – Thailand *'' Crustospathula macrocarpa'' Aptroot & Schumm (2009) – Philippines

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5190267 Malmideaceae Lichen genera Lecanorales genera Taxa described in 1998 Taxa named by André Aptroot