''Pyrenula cruentata'' is a species of corticolous (bark-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

Pyrenulaceae The Pyrenulaceae are a family of fungi in the order Pyrenulales. The family was first named by German botanist Gottlob Ludwig Rabenhorst in 1870. Species in the family have a widespread distribution, but are especially prevalent in the tropics, wh ...

. The lichen, characterized by its crimson-colored

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 ...

and

perithecial An ascocarp, or ascoma (), is the fruiting body ( sporocarp) of an ascomycete phylum fungus. It consists of very tightly interwoven hyphae and millions of embedded asci, each of which typically contains four to eight ascospores. Ascocarps are mos ...

warts, has a neotropical distribution. The lichen was first formally described in 1885 by Swiss botanist

Johannes Müller Argoviensis Johann Müller (9 May 1828 - 28 January 1896) was a Swiss botanist who was a specialist in lichens. He published under the name Johannes Müller Argoviensis to distinguish himself from other naturalists with similar names. Biography Müller w ...

as ''Bottaria cruentata''. Richard Harris transferred it to the genus ''

Pyrenula ''Pyrenula'' is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Pyrenulaceae. The genus has a widespread distribution, especially in tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the ...

'' in 1987. In northern North America, where its distribution in the United States is limited to southern Florida, it is commonly known as the bark rash lichen. It occurs on the bark of hardwood trees in hammocks and woodlands.

References

cruentata Lichen species Lichens described in 1885 Lichens of the Caribbean Lichens of the Southeastern United States Taxa named by Johannes Müller Argoviensis {{Eurotiomycetes-stub

See also

References