''Cora paraminor'' 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 Costa Rica, it was
formally described as a new species in 2016 by Manuela Dal Forno, José Luis Chaves, 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
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 ...
''paraminor'' refers to its close relationship with ''
Cora minor''. ''Cora paraminor'' is known to occur only at the
type locality at the
Los Santos Forest Reserve in
Cerro de la Muerte. Here it grows in mountainous forest 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 the twigs and branches of trees. Its
phylogenetically distinct namesake, ''C. minor'', is also found in Costa Rica, but in
Chirripó National Park. The authors suggest this may represent an example of
allopatric speciation resulting from geographic isolation of these two species caused by the two isolated, highest-altitude Costa Rican mountain peaks.
References
paraminor
Lichen species
Lichens described in 2016
Lichens of Central America
Taxa named by Robert Lücking
Basidiolichens
Taxa named by Manuela Dal-Forno
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