''Cora smaragdina'' is a species of

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 ...

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 ...

. Found in southern Costa Rica, it was formally described as a new species in 2016 by

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 ...

, Gary Rivas-Plata, and José Luis Chaves. 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 ...

''smaragdina'' refers to the emerald-green colour of the fresh lobes. The lichen occurs in tropical mountainous

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfo ...

, where it grows as an epiphyte on tree bark.

References

smaragdina ''Smaragdina'' is a genus of short-horned leaf beetles belonging to the family Chrysomelidae, subfamily Cryptocephalinae. Species These species belong to the genus Smaragdina: *''Smaragdina aeneoviridis'' Lopatin, 1975 *''Smaragdina aethiop ...

Lichen species Lichens described in 2016 Lichens of Central America Taxa named by Robert Lücking Basidiolichens {{Hygrophoraceae-stub