Sporastatiaceae | |
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Sporastatia testudinea in the Chiricahua Mountains, Arizona, US | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Fungi |
Division: | Ascomycota |
Class: | Lecanoromycetes |
Order: | Rhizocarpales |
Family: | Sporastatiaceae Bendiksby & Timdal (2013) |
Genera | |
Sporastatiaceae is a small family of crustose lichens in the order Rhizocarpales. It contains two genera, Sporastatia and Toensbergia, with a total of five species.[1] Sporastatiaceae was circumscribed in 2013 by Mika Bendiksby and Ernst Timdal.[2]
Characteristics of species in family Sporastatiaceae include a crustose (crust-like) thallus with unicellular green algae as the photobiont partner, and lacking cephalodia. The apothecia are lecideine; this means they have a black exciple and blackish disc with a dark epihymenium. The ascus is narrowly club-shaped (clavate), containing several spores; it has a well-developed, deeply amyloid tholus (a thickened inner part of the apex). The ascospores are hyaline, and thin-walled, without a transparent coat (perispore) around them.[2]