''Crustospathula'' 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 five species of

crustose lichen Crustose lichens are lichens that form a crust which strongly adheres to the Substrate (biology), substrate (soil, rock, tree bark, etc.), making separation from the substrate impossible without destruction. The basic structure of crustose lichen ...

s in the family

Malmideaceae Malmideaceae is a family of crustose and corticolous lichens in the order Lecanorales. It contains eight genera and about 70 species. Taxonomy Malmideaceae was created in 2011 to accommodate a group of species, formerly placed in genus '' Malc ...

. They are characterized by their stalked and sometimes branched cartilaginous

soredia Soredia are common reproduction, reproductive structures of lichens. Lichens asexual reproduction, reproduce asexually by employing simple fragmentation and production of soredia and isidia. Soredia are powdery propagules composed of fungus, fung ...

and ''

Bacidia ''Bacidia'' is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Ramalinaceae. Taxonomy The genus was circumscribed by Giuseppe De Notaris in 1846. Description ''Bacidia'' is characterised by its crustose (crust-like) growth form. The main body ...

''-like

apothecia An ascocarp, or ascoma (: ascomata), is the fruiting body ( sporocarp) of an ascomycete phylum fungus. It consists of very tightly interwoven hyphae and millions of embedded asci, each of which typically contains four to eight ascospores. As ...

Taxonomy

''Crustospathula'' was

circumscribed In geometry, a circumscribed circle for a set of points is a circle passing through each of them. Such a circle is said to ''circumscribe'' the points or a polygon formed from them; such a polygon is said to be ''inscribed'' in the circle. * Circum ...

by lichenologist

André Aptroot André Aptroot ( Heemskerk, 1961) is a Dutch mycologist and lichenologist. His primary research focus is on biodiversity, particularly tropical lichens, encompassing systematics, floristic surveys, and taxonomic reviews. A prolific research ...

in 1998, with '' Crustospathula cartilaginea'' as the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

. This species was discovered by Aptroot in

Madang Province Madang is a Provinces of Papua New Guinea, province of Papua New Guinea. The province is on the northern coast of mainland Papua New Guinea and has many of the country's highest peaks, active volcanoes and its biggest mix of languages. The capi ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

in an undisturbed

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

lowland

rain forest Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree Canopy (biology), canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropi ...

. It was, according to Aptroot, the known instance of a

with stalked, cartilaginous, labriform

soralia Soredia are common reproductive structures of lichens. Lichens reproduce asexually by employing simple fragmentation and production of soredia and isidia. Soredia are powdery propagules composed of fungal hyphae wrapped around cyanobacteria or g ...

. For this reason, it could not be assigned to any known genera, and ''Crustospathula'' was created to hold it. Aptroot initially assigned the genus tentatively to the family Bacidiaceae, because of the resemblance of generative structures with certain species of ''

''. It was later in the

Ramalinaceae The Ramalinaceae are a family of lichen-forming fungi in the order Lecanorales. First proposed by Carl Adolph Agardh in 1821, the family now comprises 63 genera and about 750 species. Ramalinaceae lichens exhibit diverse growth forms, includin ...

, until

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

analysis determined that its true placement belonged in the Malmideaceae.

Description

''Crustospathula'' species are

crustose Crustose is a Habit (biology), habit of some types of algae and lichens in which the organism grows tightly appressed to a substrate, forming a biological layer. ''Crustose'' adheres very closely to the Substrate (biology), substrates at all poin ...

with stalked and cartilaginous

that are labriform (lip-shaped) or crenately (scalloped) lobed. The

ascospore 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 (botany), division of fungi. After two parental cell nucleus, nuclei fuse, the ascu ...

s are rod-shaped and often curved or bent. They contain between 0 and 3

septa SEPTA, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, is a regional public transportation authority that operates bus, rapid transit, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolleybus services for nearly four million people througho ...

, and measure 20–25 by 0.8–1.5 um. The lichens contain the secondary compounds

atranorin Atranorin is a chemical substance produced by some species of lichen. It is a secondary metabolite belonging to a group of compounds known as depsides. Atranorin has analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antifungal, cytotoxic, antioxidant, ...

and 2'-O-methylperlatolic acid.

Species

*'' Crustospathula amazonica'' Aptroot, M.Cáceres & Timdal (2014) – Brazil *'' Crustospathula cartilaginea'' Aptroot (1998) – Papua New Guinea *''

Crustospathula humboldtii ''Crustospathula'' is a genus of five species of crustose lichens in the family Malmideaceae. They are characterized by their stalked and sometimes branched cartilaginous soredia and ''Bacidia''-like apothecia. Taxonomy ''Crustospathula'' was ci ...

'' Kalb (2011) – Venezuela *'' Crustospathula khaoyaiana'' Kalb & Mongk. (2012) – Thailand *'' Crustospathula macrocarpa'' Aptroot & Schumm (2009) – Philippines

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5190267 Malmideaceae Lichen genera Lecanorales genera Taxa described in 1998 Taxa named by André Aptroot