''Swinscowia bispora'' is a species of 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.Strigulaceae ''Strigulaceae'' is a family of lichen-forming fungi, one of two families in the order Strigulales (class Dothideomycetes). Recent (2020) molecular analysis of the type genus, '' Strigula'', has led to a reallocation of the foliicolous species i ...

. Found in Korea, it was formally described as a new species in 2014 by lichenologists

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 ...

and Kwang-Hee Moon as a member of genus ''

Strigula ''Strigula'' is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Strigulaceae. The genus was circumscribed in 1823 by English mycologist Elias Magnus Fries Elias Magnus Fries (15 August 1794 – 8 February 1878) was a Swedish mycologist a ...

''. 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 from Mount Juwang ( North Gyeongsang Province) at an altitude between ; there, it was found growing on the bark on an

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

tree. The

taxon In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular nam ...

was transferred to the genus ''

Swinscowia ''Swinscowia'' is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Strigulaceae. It has 34 species. ''Swinscowia'' was proposed in 2020 by lichenologists Shu-Hua Jiang, Robert Lücking, and Emmanuël Sérusiaux to contain non-foliicolous species tha ...

'' in 2020 following a

molecular phylogenetics 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 ...

-led reorganisation of families and genera in the order

Dothideomycetes Dothideomycetes is the largest and most diverse class of ascomycete fungi. It comprises 11 orders 90 families, 1300 genera and over 19,000 known species. Traditionally, most of its members were included in the loculoascomycetes, which is not par ...

. The species epithet ''bispora'' rfers to the fact that each

ascus 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 ...

contain two

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. The

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 ...

-shaped spores measure 117–135 by 38–48

μm The micrometre ( international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: μm) or micrometer (American spelling), also commonly known as a micron, is a unit of length in the International System of Unit ...

; they are densely muriform, meaning they are divided into multiple chambers by both transverse and longitudal

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 ...

References

Dothideomycetes Lichen species Lichens described in 2014 Taxa named by André Aptroot Lichens of Eastern Asia {{Dothideomycetes-stub