{{Short description|Genus of fungi}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = | image_caption = | taxon = Crustospathula | authority = Aptroot (1998) | type_species = ''Crustospathula cartilaginea'' | type_species_authority = Aptroot (1998) | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = ''C. amazonica''<br> ''C. cartilaginea''<br> ''C. humboldtii''<br> ''C. khaoyaiana''<br> ''C. macrocarpa'' }}
'''''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 circumscribed by lichenologist André Aptroot in 1998, with ''Crustospathula cartilaginea'' as the type species. This species was discovered by Aptroot in Madang Province, Papua New Guinea in an undisturbed tropical lowland rain forest. It was, according to Aptroot, the known instance of a crustose lichen with stalked, cartilaginous, labriform soralia. 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 ''Bacidia''.<ref name="Aptroot 1998"/> It was later in the Ramalinaceae,<ref name="Lücking et al. 2017"/> until molecular phylogenetic analysis determined that its true placement belonged in the Malmideaceae.<ref name="Kistenich et al. 2018"/>
==Description== ''Crustospathula'' species are crustose with stalked and cartilaginous soredia that are labriform (lip-shaped) or crenately (scalloped) lobed. The ascospores are rod-shaped and often curved or bent.<ref name="Aptroot & Schumm 2009"/> They contain between 0 and 3 septa, and measure 20–25 by 0.8–1.5 um.<ref name="Aptroot 1998"/>
The lichens contain the secondary compounds atranorin and 2'-O-methylperlatolic acid.<ref name="Aptroot & Schumm 2009"/>
==Species== *''Crustospathula amazonica'' <small>Aptroot, M.Cáceres & Timdal (2014)</small><ref name="Aptroot & Cáceres 2014"/> – Brazil *''Crustospathula cartilaginea'' <small>Aptroot (1998)</small> – Papua New Guinea *''Crustospathula humboldtii'' <small>Kalb (2011)</small> – Venezuela *''Crustospathula khaoyaiana'' <small>Kalb & Mongk. (2012)</small><ref name="Kalb et al. 2012"/> – Thailand *''Crustospathula macrocarpa'' <small>Aptroot & Schumm (2009)</small><ref name="Aptroot & Schumm 2009"/> – Philippines
==References== {{Reflist|colwidth=30em|refs=
<ref name="Aptroot 1998">{{cite journal |last1=Aptroot |first1=André |year=1998 |title=New lichens and lichen records from Papua New Guinea, with the description of ''Crustospathula'', a new genus in the Bacidiaceae |journal= Bryophyte Diversity and Evolution|volume=14 |pages=25–35 |doi=10.11646/bde.14.1.6 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268197672}}</ref>
<ref name="Aptroot & Schumm 2009">{{cite journal |last1=Aptroot |first1=André |last2=Schumm |first2=Felix |year=2009 |title=A new species of the lichen genus ''Crustospathula'' from the Philippines |journal=Herzogia |volume=22 |pages=67–70 |url=https://herzogia.blam-bl.de/images/Herzogia_22/Downloads/H22-Aptroot_Schumm.pdf}}</ref>
<ref name="Aptroot & Cáceres 2014">{{cite journal |last1=Aptroot |first1=André |last2=Cáceres |first2=Marcela Eugenia da Silva |title=A key to the corticolous microfoliose, foliose and related crustose lichens from Rondônia, Brazil, with the description of four new species |journal=The Lichenologist |volume=46 |issue=6 |year=2014 |pages=783–799 |doi=10.1017/S0024282914000358|s2cid=83968727 }}</ref>
<ref name="Kalb et al. 2012">{{cite journal |last1=Kalb |first1=Klaus |last2=Buaruang |first2=Kawinnat |last3=Mongkolsuk |first3=Pachara |last4=Boonpragob |first4=Kansri |title=New or otherwise interesting lichens. VI, including a lichenicolous fungus |journal=Phytotaxa |volume=42 |issue=1 |year=2012 |pages=35 |doi=10.11646/phytotaxa.42.1.5}}</ref>
<ref name="Kistenich et al. 2018">{{cite journal |last1=Kistenich |first1=Sonja |last2=Timdal |first2=Einar |last3=Bendiksby |first3=Mika |last4=Ekman |first4=Stefan |year=2018 |title=Molecular systematics and character evolution in the lichen family Ramalinaceae (Ascomycota: Lecanorales) |journal=Taxon |volume=67 |issue=5 |pages=871–904 |doi=10.12705/675.1|hdl=10852/67955 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>
<ref name="Lücking et al. 2017">{{cite journal |last1=Lücking |first1=Robert |last2=Hodkinson |first2=Brendan P. |last3=Leavitt |first3=Steven D. |s2cid=90258634 |year=2017 |title=The 2016 classification of lichenized fungi in the Ascomycota and Basidiomycota–Approaching one thousand genera |journal=The Bryologist |volume=119 |issue=4 |pages=361–416 |doi=10.1639/0007-2745-119.4.361}}</ref>
}}
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Category:Malmideaceae Category:Lichen genera Category:Lecanorales genera Category:Taxa described in 1998 Category:Taxa named by André Aptroot