''Cora cyphellifera'' is a species of basidiolichen 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 evide ...

. Found in northern Ecuador, it was formally described as a new species in 2013 by Manuela Dal-Forno, Frank Bungartz, 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 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 near the entrance to the Alto Choco Reserve (in

Cotacachi Canton Cotacachi is a canton of Imbabura province of Ecuador in South America. The name also refers to Cotacachi (city), the seat of that canton, which is one of Ecuador's leading artisanal manufacturers of leather goods, and to the dormant Cotacachi V ...

, Ecuadorian

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

) at an elevation of . Here, in open, disturbed forest patches, the lichen grows as an

epiphyte An epiphyte is an organism that grows on the surface of a plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphytes grow are called phoroph ...

on tree branches and twigs, forming foliose, light bluish-green

thalli 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 were ...

up to across, and comprising 20 to 30 semicircular lobes in each thallus. ''Cora cyphellifera'' is only known to occur at the type locality, which is a montane rainforest. The

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 ...

refers to the unusual cyphelloid structure (i.e., with concavities or pits in the surface) of the thallus; this characteristic is otherwise unknown in the genus ''

Cora Cora may refer to: Science * ''Cora'' (fungus), a genus of lichens * ''Cora'' (damselfly), a genus of damselflies * CorA metal ion transporter, a Mg2+ influx system People * Cora (name), a given name and surname * Cora E. (born 1968), German hi ...

''. According to the authors, "it almost looks like the lichenized thallus is parasitized by a non-lichenized, cyphelloid mushroom".

References

cyphellifera Lichen species Lichens described in 2013 Lichens of Ecuador Taxa named by Robert Lücking Basidiolichens Taxa named by Frank Bungartz Taxa named by Manuela Dal-Forno {{Hygrophoraceae-stub