Verrucaria is a genus of lichenized (lichen-forming) fungi in the family Verrucariaceae.

Taxonomy

The genus was circumscribed by German botanist Heinrich Adolph Schrader in 1794, with Verrucaria rupestris assigned as the type species. In his brief diagnosis of the genus, Schrader mentioned the more or less spherical (subglobose), closed ascomata, and the crustose thallus. The genus name is derived from the Latin word verruca (meaning "wart") and the suffix -aria (meaning "belonging to" or "possession").

Ecology

As of 2015, there were 16 Verrucaria species classified as marine species: V. adguttata, V. allantoidea, V. ceuthocarpa, V. corallensi, V. ditmarsica, V. erichsenii, V. halizoa, V. halochlora, V. microsporoides, V. paulula, V. psychrophila, V. sandstedei, V. serpuloides, V. sessilis, V. subdiscreta, and V. thalassina.

Species

Distribution

Verrucaria ditmarsica has been recorded in 1984 from the Lighthouse Island, Copeland Island, County Down, Northern Ireland.