# Cora accipiter

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Species of lichen

Cora accipiter Scientific classification Kingdom: Fungi Division: Basidiomycota Class: Agaricomycetes Order: Agaricales Family: Hygrophoraceae Genus: Cora Species: C. accipiter Binomial name Cora accipiter B.Moncada, Madriñán & Lücking (2016)

***Cora accipiter*** is a species of [basidiolichen](/source/Basidiolichen) in the family [Hygrophoraceae](/source/Hygrophoraceae).[1] It was [formally described](/source/Species_description) as a new species in 2016 by Bibiana Moncada, Santiago Madriñán, and [Robert Lücking](/source/Robert_L%C3%BCcking). The [specific epithet](/source/Botanical_name), which refers to hawks of the genus *[Accipiter](/source/Accipiter)*, alludes to the wing-shaped lobes of the lichen, and also honours mycologist [David Leslie Hawksworth](/source/David_Leslie_Hawksworth). The lichen is found in South America, where it grows in the wet [páramo](/source/P%C3%A1ramo) regions of the northern [Andes](/source/Andes). Closely related species include *[C. cyphellifera](/source/Cora_cyphellifera)* and *[C. arachnoidea](/source/Cora_arachnoidea)*.

## Taxonomy

*Cora accipiter* is a [basidiolichen](/source/Basidiolichen) in the family [Hygrophoraceae](/source/Hygrophoraceae) (order [Agaricales](/source/Agaricales)). It was [formally described](/source/Species_description) in 2016 by Bibiana Moncada, Manuel Madriñán, and [Robert Lücking](/source/Robert_L%C3%BCcking) from material collected in the [páramo](/source/P%C3%A1ramo) of [Chingaza](/source/Chingaza_National_Natural_Park) in the [eastern cordillera](/source/Cordillera_Oriental_(Colombia)) of Colombia. The [epithet](/source/Botanical_name), *accipiter*—used as a [noun](/source/Noun) in [apposition](/source/Apposition)—draws an analogy between the lichen's fan- or wing-shaped [lobes](/source/Glossary_of_lichen_terms#lobes) and the wings of hawks in the genus *[Accipiter](/source/Accipiter)*. [Internal transcribed spacer](/source/Internal_transcribed_spacer) rDNA sequences from the holotype and numerous paratypes place the species in the *Cora arachnoidea–cyphellifera* clade, but an expanded data set distinguishes *C. accipiter* from its close relatives *[C. arachnoidea](/source/Cora_arachnoidea)* and *[C. cyphellifera](/source/Cora_cyphellifera)*.[2]

## Description

The thallus is somewhat [epiphytic](/source/Epiphyte), forming a [foliose](/source/Foliose_lichen) carpet up to 20 cm across at the bases or lower stems of páramo shrubs, or over grasses and other herbaceous plants. It comprises 5–25 overlapping, fan- to wing-shaped lobes, each 2–3 cm wide and 1–3 cm long. Long, radial branching sutures frequently split, leaving the lobes laterally truncated and giving them a ragged "wing" outline. Fresh upper surfaces are light olive to olive-brown with a faint concentric colour zoning; the thin, rolled-in ([involute](/source/Glossary_of_lichen_terms#involute)) margins are pale and finely [pilose](/source/Glossary_of_lichen_terms#pilose). When dry, the surface becomes distinctly undulate-rugose and shows concentric bands of short, cobweb-like ([arachnoid](/source/Glossary_of_lichen_terms#arachnoid)) tomentum. The lower surface lacks a [cortex](/source/Glossary_of_lichen_terms#cortex) (it is [ecorticate](/source/Glossary_of_lichen_terms#ecorticate)) and exposes a whitish-to-cream felty [medulla](/source/Medulla_(lichenology)).

In section the thallus is 400–500 [micrometres](/source/Micrometre) (μm) thick. The upper cortex is 20–40 μm thick and viaduct-shaped, underlain by a 70–100 μm zone of spaced anticlinal hyphae; stout setae (200–400 μm long, 30–40 μm wide at the base) emerge through this layer. The [algal layer](/source/Glossary_of_lichen_terms#algal_layer) is 100–200 μm thick, orange-brown above and bluish-green below. A 100–150 μm hydrophobic medulla completes the section; neither [clamp connections](/source/Clamp_connection) nor papillate hyphae are present. The fertile surface forms pale yellow-brown, [resupinate](/source/Glossary_of_lichen_terms#resupinate) patches 0.5–2 mm long and 1–5 mm broad that may anastomose into diffuse, concentric lines. Its [hymenium](/source/Hymenium) (60–80 μm) contains abundant palisade-like basidioles (20–30 × 5–7 μm) and scattered four-spored [basidia](/source/Basidia) (25–35 × 5–7 μm); [basidiospores](/source/Basidiospore) have not been observed. [Thin-layer chromatography](/source/Thin-layer_chromatography) revealed no detectable [secondary metabolites](/source/Secondary_metabolite).[2]

## Habitat and distribution

*Cora accipiter* was originally documented from the wet [páramo](/source/P%C3%A1ramo) ecosystems of the northern [Andes](/source/Andes) of Colombia and Venezuela, at elevations of roughly 3,200–3,730 m. It grows epiphytically at the bases and lower stems of páramo shrubs—or immediately above the ground on grasses and other low herbs—where frequent mist, strong winds, and intense [ultraviolet](/source/Ultraviolet) radiation prevail.[2] It was later recorded in the [El Ángel](/source/El_%C3%81ngel%2C_Ecuador) páramo of Ecuador at about 3950 m elevation.[3]

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-CoL_Y95Z_1-0)** ["*Cora accipiter* B. Moncada, Madriñán & Lücking"](https://www.catalogueoflife.org/data/taxon/Y95Z). *[Catalogue of Life](/source/Catalogue_of_Life)*. [Species 2000](/source/Species_2000): Leiden, the Netherlands. Retrieved 17 June 2025.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Lücking_et_al._2016_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Lücking_et_al._2016_2-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Lücking_et_al._2016_2-2) Lücking, Robert; Forno, Manuela Dal; Moncada, Bibiana; Coca, Luis Fernando; Vargas-Mendoza, Leidy Yasmín; [Aptroot, André](/source/Andr%C3%A9_Aptroot); et al. (2016). "Turbo-taxonomy to assemble a megadiverse lichen genus: seventy new species of *Cora* (Basidiomycota: Agaricales: Hygrophoraceae), honouring David Leslie Hawksworth's seventieth birthday". *Fungal Diversity*. **84** (1): 139–207. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1007/s13225-016-0374-9](https://doi.org/10.1007%2Fs13225-016-0374-9).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-González_et_al._2019_3-0)** González, Yadira; Aragón, Gregorio; Prieto, María (2019). ["Nuevos registros de líquenes terrícolas en los páramos ecuatorianos"](https://doi.org/10.15446%2Fcaldasia.v41n2.72040) [New records of terricolous lichens in Ecuadorian páramos]. *Caldasia*. **41** (2): 445–449. [Bibcode](/source/Bibcode_(identifier)):[2019Cald...41..445G](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2019Cald...41..445G). [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.15446/caldasia.v41n2.72040](https://doi.org/10.15446%2Fcaldasia.v41n2.72040).

Taxon identifiers Cora accipiter Wikidata: Q107589531 Wikispecies: Cora accipiter CoL: Y95Z GBIF: 9714506 IndexFungorum: 552381 MycoBank: 552381 NCBI: 1924428 Open Tree of Life: 7522799 SpeciesFungorum: 552381

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Cora accipiter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cora_accipiter) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cora_accipiter?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.