| Ionaspis aptrootii | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Ascomycota |
| Class: | Lecanoromycetes |
| Order: | Baeomycetales |
| Family: | Hymeneliaceae |
| Genus: | Ionaspis |
| Species: | I. aptrootii |
| Binomial name | |
| Ionaspis aptrootii Poengs. & Lumbsch (2021) | |
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| Synonyms [2] | |
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Ionaspis aptrootii is a species of saxicolous (rock-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Hymeneliaceae. [3] It occurs in New Guinea and Thailand.
Ionaspis aptrootii is a replacement name for the taxon name Ionaspis tropica, which was published by the Dutch lichenologist André Aptroot in 1997. [1] That name was not validly published, as it was predated by another taxon of the same name, described by Lincoln Ware Riddle in 1920. [2] The new species epithet honours Aptroot, who originally described the species. [4] The type specimen was collected by Aptroot in Varirata National Park, Papua New Guinea, where he found it growing on conglomerate rock at an elevation of 700 m (2,300 ft). [1] It has since been recorded in Thailand. [5]
Ionaspis aptrootii has a smooth, cream-white thallus up to 1 mm thick and encircled with a black prothallus. It has angular to star-shaped ( stellate ), dark reddish-brown apothecia (fruiting bodies) that are immersed in the thallus, and measure 0.2–0.4 mm wide. Its ascospores , which number eight per ascus, are hyaline and ellipsoid, do not have septa, and measure 11–14 by 4–5 μm. The stellate, dark reddish-brown apothecia distinguish this species from others in the genus Ionaspis . [1]