''Pulvinodecton'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

of lichen-forming

fungi A fungus (plural, : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of Eukaryote, eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and Mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified ...

in the family

Roccellaceae The Roccellaceae are a family of fungi in the order Arthoniomycetes. Most taxa are lichenized with green algae, although some are lichenicolous, growing on other lichens. Genera , Species Fungorum (in the Catalogue of Life) accepts 47 genera ...

. It has two species. The genus was

circumscribed In geometry, the circumscribed circle or circumcircle of a polygon is a circle that passes through all the vertices of the polygon. The center of this circle is called the circumcenter and its radius is called the circumradius. Not every po ...

in 1998 by lichenologists

Aino Henssen Aino Marjatta Henssen (12 April 1925, Elberfeld – 29 August 2011, Marburg), was a German lichenologist and systematist. Her father, Gottfried Henssen, was a folklorist and her mother was Finnish. Education and career Henssen began her studie ...

and Göran Thor, with ''

Pulvinodecton kurzii ''Pulvinodecton'' is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Roccellaceae. It has two species. The genus was circumscribed in 1998 by lichenologists Aino Henssen and Göran Thor, with '' Pulvinodecton kurzii'' assigned as the type species. ...

'' assigned as the

type species In 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 species that contains the biological type specimen( ...

. ''Pulvinodecton'' differs from ''

Erythrodecton ''Erythrodecton'' is a genus of two species of lichen-forming fungi in the family Roccellaceae. The genus was circumscribed in 1991 by Swedish botanist Göran Thor, with '' E. granulatum'' assigned as the type species In zoological nomenclatu ...

'' in having spindle-shaped (''fusiform'') rather than doubly club-shaped (''biclavate'')

ascospore An ascus (; ) is the sexual spore-bearing cell produced in ascomycete fungi. Each ascus usually contains eight ascospores (or octad), produced by meiosis followed, in most species, by a mitotic cell division. However, asci in some genera o ...

s, and by the development of its

ascocarp An ascocarp, or ascoma (), 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. Ascocarps are mos ...

. Additionally, the unusual

pycnidia A pycnidium (plural pycnidia) is an asexual fruiting body produced by mitosporic fungi, for instance in the order Sphaeropsidales ( Deuteromycota, Coelomycetes) or order Pleosporales (Ascomycota, Dothideomycetes). It is often spherical or in ...

of ''Pulvinodecton'' species feature a deeply divided cavity with more than one

ostiole An ''ostiole'' is a small hole or opening through which algae or fungi release their mature spores. The word is a diminutive of "ostium", "opening". The term is also used in higher plants, for example to denote the opening of the involuted ...

Species

*''

'' *'' Pulvinodecton seychellensis''

References

Roccellaceae Arthoniomycetes genera Taxa named by Aino Henssen Taxa described in 1998 Taxa named by Göran Thor {{Arthoniomycetes-stub