''Cryptothecia austrocoreana'' is a species of

crustose Crustose is a habit of some types of algae and lichens in which the organism grows tightly appressed to a substrate, forming a biological layer. ''Crustose'' adheres very closely to the substrates at all points. ''Crustose'' is found on rocks and ...

and corticolous (bark-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.Arthoniaceae The Arthoniaceae are a family of lichenized, lichenicolous and saprobic fungi in the order Arthoniales. The Arthoniaceae is the largest family of Arthoniales, with around 800 species. Most species in Arthoniaceae belong in '' Arthonia'' which is ...

. Found in South Korea, it was formally described as a new species in 2017 by Jung-Jae Woo, László Lőkös, Edit Farkas, and Jae-Seoun Hur. The

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular wiktionary:en:specimen, specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to a ...

was collected by the first author near

Seonamsa Seonam Temple, or Seonamsa, is a Korean Buddhist temple on the eastern slope at the west end of Jogyesan Provincial Park, within the northern Seungjumyeon District of the city of Suncheon, South Jeolla Province, South Korea. It belongs to the Ta ...

(

Suncheon Suncheon () (''Suncheon-si'') is a city in South Jeolla Province, South Korea. It is a scenic agricultural and industrial city of around 250,000 people near Suncheon Bay. It is located in the southeastern corner of Jeollanam-do, just over an hour ...

, Jeollanam Province) at an altitude of ; here it was found growing on the bark of '' Meliosma myriantha''. It also grows on the bark of ''

Carpinus tschonoskii Hornbeams are hardwood trees in the flowering plant genus ''Carpinus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The 30–40 species occur across much of the temperateness, temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Origin of names The common English n ...

''. The lichen is only known to occur at the type locality. 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 ...

''austrocoreana'' refers to the southern part of South Korea.

Lichen product Lichen products, also known as lichen substances, are organic compounds produced by a lichen. Specifically, they are secondary metabolites. Lichen products are represented in several different chemical classes, including terpenoids, orcinol deriva ...

s found in ''Cryptothecia austrocoreana'' include

barbatic acid Barbatic acid is an organic compound that is made by some lichens. It is in the structural class known as depsides. It is particularly common in the genera ''Usnea'' (the beard lichens) and ''Cladonia''. History The compound was first isolated ...

as a major constituent, minor amounts of

atranorin Atranorin is a chemical substance produced by some species of lichen. It is a secondary metabolite belonging to a group of compounds known as depsides. Atranorin has analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antifungal, cytotoxic, antioxidant, ...

, and trace amounts of chloroatranorin. Only six other species of genus ''

Cryptothecia ''Cryptothecia'' is a genus of white to greenish crustose lichens that grow on bark, wood, or leaves. in tropical or subtropical areas worldwide. It has a conspicuous prothallus that develops around its periphery which can be bright red in some s ...

'' contain barbatic acid.

References

austrocoreana Lichen species Lichens described in 2017 Lichens of Asia {{Arthoniomycetes-stub