''Acantholichen'' is a

fungal A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from ...

genus in the family

Hygrophoraceae The Hygrophoraceae are a family of fungi in the order Agaricales. Originally conceived as containing white-spored, thick-gilled agarics (gilled mushrooms), including '' Hygrophorus'' and '' Hygrocybe'' species (the waxcaps or waxy caps), DNA evi ...

. The genus was

circumscribed In geometry, the circumscribed circle or circumcircle of a polygon is a circle that passes through all the vertices of the polygon. The center of this circle is called the circumcenter and its radius is called the circumradius. Not every po ...

by Norwegian lichenologist Per Magnus Jørgensen to contain the

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * Ty ...

, and at that time, only species, the

basidiolichen Basidiolichens are lichenized members of the Basidiomycota, a much smaller group of lichens than the far more common ascolichens in the Ascomycota. In arctic, alpine, and temperate forests, the most common basidiolichens are in the agaric genus ...

''Acantholichen pannarioides'', discovered originally in Costa Rica in 1998. This species has a bluish, gelatinous

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 ...

, and a fine, white powdery bloom covering the hairy upper surface; this surface is said to resemble "an unshaven chin". Five additional species, all basidiolichens, were added to the genus in 2016 following an in-depth analysis of specimens collected from the Galápagos, Costa Rica, Brazil and Colombia.

Species

*'' Acantholichen albomarginatus'' *'' Acantholichen campestris'' *'' Acantholichen galapagoensis'' *'' Acantholichen pannarioides'' *'' Acantholichen sorediatus'' *'' Acantholichen variabilis''

References

Hygrophoraceae Basidiolichens Agaricales genera Lichen genera Taxa named by Per Magnus Jørgensen Taxa described in 1998 {{Hygrophoraceae-stub

Species

See also

References