''Astrothelium clypeatum'' 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.Trypetheliaceae. Found in Vietnam, it was formally described as a new species in 2016 by
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
Cécile Gueidan
Cécile Gueidan is a mycologist and lichenologist who applies morphological and molecular biological methods to the origin and taxonomy of fungi that live in lichen symbioses and within rocks.
Early life and education
Gueidan began working on ...
. The type specimen was collected from Cát Tiên National Park ( Dong Nai Province); here it was found growing on the bark of some trees along a road. The lichen has an olive-green thallus that shows branched lines revealing the black prothallus underneath. No lichen products were detected in the species. The authors placed it in genus '' Astrothelium'' because of the "well-developed, corticate, rimose thallus", but acknowledge that it might belong to genus '' Pseudopyrenula''. The
species epithet Specific name may refer to:
* in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database
In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules:
* Specific name (botany)
A botanical name ...
''clypeatum'' refers to the conical black ascomata, which have a pseudostromata resembling a clypeus (a shield-like growth).