Sulzbacheromyces leucodontius
Sulzbacheromyces leucodontius is a species of basidiolichen in the Lepidostromataceae family. It was described in 2023 by Coca, Gómez-Gómez, Guzmán-Guillermo and Dal Forno. This lichen has distinctive white, unbranched fruiting bodies that look like elephant tusks and stand about 6–25 mm tall (usually 10–20 mm).
It grows as a thin, crusty layer on orange clay soils in tropical rainforests, living in a partnership with tiny green algae (Trebouxioid type) embedded in fungal thread networks. The fruiting bodies are pure white and do not branch, and the cells lack clamp connections. They are easily mistaken for Multiclavula mucida, but S. leucodontius prefers soil rather than rotting wood.
The species has the widest geographic range of any American Sulzbacheromyces, found across tropical areas from Mexico to western Brazil, mainly in lowland regions. It was initially named S. leucodontium but the name was corrected to leucodontius.
Notable habitats include orange clay soils in tropical rainforests, with recorded locations in Colombia’s Andean-Amazon Piedmont (Caquetá and Putumayo), near Pico de Orizaba in Mexico, and protected forests in Brazil’s Amazon.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 19:43 (CET).