script lichen A script lichen, or graphid lichen, is a member of a group of lichens which have spore producing structures that look like writing on the lichen body. The structures are elongated and narrow apothecia called lirellae, which look like short scribbles ...
in the family
Graphidaceae
The Graphidaceae are a family of lichens in the order Ostropales.
Distribution and ecology
The vast majority of Graphidaceae species are restricted to the tropics. Most Graphidaceae species are epiphytic (i.e. they grow only on plants).
Gener ...
. Found in Venezuela, it was formally described as a new species in 2009 by Gerhard Neuwirth and
Robert Lücking
Robert Lücking (born 1964) is a German lichenologist. He is a leading expert on foliicolous lichens–lichens that live on leaves.
Life and career
Born in Ulm in 1964, Lücking earned both his master's (1990) and PhD degree (1994) at the Univer ...
. The type specimen was collected by the first author from Samariapo (Región Costa del Orinoco, Amazonas). Here the lichen was found growing on the bark of dead branches of shrubs growing on granite rocks along the eastern banks of the
Orinoco
The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers , with 76.3 percent of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia. It is the fourth largest river in the wor ...
river. Characteristics of the lichen include the large, prominent
lirellae
A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.thalline cover, a completely carbonized (blackened) exciple, and four submuriform (i.e., somewhat chambered) ascospores per
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 ...
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 ...