''Pyrrhospora endaurantia'' is a species of

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.Lecanoraceae The Lecanoraceae are a family of lichenized fungi in the order Lecanorales. Species of this family have a widespread distribution. Taxonomy Lecanoraceae was circumscribed by German lichenologist Gustav Wilhelm Körber in 1855. Genera According ...

. Found in

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

, it was described as a new species in 2021 by lichenologists

Klaus Kalb Klaus Kalb (born 1942) is a German lichenologist and an authority on tropical lichens. Biography Klaus Kalb was born in Nuremberg in 1942 and grew up in southern Bavaria. From 1960 to 1965 he studied biology, chemistry, and geography at t ...

and

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 ...

. The type was collected on the Roaring Rocks in Tsavo West National Park ( Central Province), at an altitude of about . Here it was found growing on tree twigs in a

savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the Canopy (forest), canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to rea ...

. The lichen has a dull, pale grey thallus bordered by a black hypothallus about 0.1 mm wide. 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 ...

''endaurantia'' refers to its orange-red sub

hymenium The hymenium is the tissue layer on the hymenophore of a fungal fruiting body where the cells develop into basidia or asci, which produce spores. In some species all of the cells of the hymenium develop into basidia or asci, while in others some ...

and orange hypothecium (the tissue immediately below the subhymenium). The thallus of the lichen turns yellow with the K chemical spot test. Thin-layer chromatography showed the presence of atranorin in the thallus.

References

Lecanoraceae Lichen species Lichens described in 2021 Lichens of Kenya Taxa named by André Aptroot Taxa named by Klaus Kalb {{Lecanorales-stub