''Chaenotheca'' is a
genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
of
lichen
A lichen ( , ) is a hybrid colony (biology), colony of algae or cyanobacteria living symbiotically among hypha, filaments of multiple fungus species, along with yeasts and bacteria embedded in the cortex or "skin", in a mutualism (biology), m ...
ized fungi within the family
Coniocybaceae.
The sexual reproduction structures are a mass of loose
ascospores
In fungi, an ascospore is the sexual spore formed inside an ascus—the sac-like cell that defines the division Ascomycota, the largest and most diverse division of fungi. After two parental nuclei fuse, the ascus undergoes meiosis (halving of ...
that are enclosed by a cup shaped sitting on top of a tiny stalk, having the appearance of a dressmaker's pin (called a
mazaedium), hence the common name
pin lichen.
[Field Guide to California Lichens, Stephen Sharnoff, Yale University Press, 2014, ] Genus members are also commonly called needle lichens.
[USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Name Search]
/ref> partners for ''Chaenotheca'' include members of the algae genera '' Symbiochloris'', ''Trebouxia
''Trebouxia'' is a unicellular green alga. It is a photosynthetic organism that can exist in almost all habitats found in polar, tropical, and temperate regions.Erokhina, L. G., Shatilovich, A. V., Kaminskaya, O. P., & Gilichinskii, D. A. (2004 ...
'', '' Trentepohlia'', and '' Tritostichococcus''.
Species
*'' Chaenotheca balsamconensis''
References
Ascomycota genera
Lichen genera
Taxa named by Theodor Magnus Fries
Taxa described in 1860
Coniocybaceae
{{Ascomycota-stub