Epilichen

Epilichen
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Ascomycota
Class: Lecanoromycetes
Order: Rhizocarpales
Family: Rhizocarpaceae
Genus: Epilichen
Clem. (1909)
Type species
Epilichen scabrosus
(Ach.) Clem. (1909)
Species

E. glauconigellus
E. scabrosus
E. stellatus

Epilichen is a small genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Rhizocarpaceae. These parasitic lichens live on other lichens, beginning as thin, crust-like patches that may break into small islands or scales, and in some cases produce no visible body at all except for their reproductive structures. They reproduce through black, disc-shaped fruiting bodies that contain distinctive brown spores with a "doughnut ring" appearance, and can eventually take over the space occupied by their host lichen once it dies.