Biatora is a genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of lichen

Lichen

Lichens are composite organisms consisting of a symbiotic organism composed of a fungus with a photosynthetic partner , usually either a green alga or cyanobacterium...

ized fungi in the family Ramalinaceae

Ramalinaceae

The Ramalinaceae are a family of lichenized fungi in the order Lecanorales. The family name is synonymous with the name Bacidiaceae. Species of this family have a widespread...

. First described in 1817, the genus consists of crustose

Crustose

Crustose is a habit of some types of algae in which the plant grows tightly appressed to a substrate forming a biological layer of the adhering organism...

 lichens with green algal

Green algae

The green algae are the large group of algae from which the embryophytes emerged. As such, they form a paraphyletic group, although the group including both green algae and embryophytes is monophyletic...

  photobionts, biatorine apothecia, colorless, simple to 3-septate ascospore

Ascospore

An ascospore is a spore contained in an ascus or that was produced inside an ascus. This kind of spore is specific to fungi classified as ascomycetes ....

s, and bacilliform pycnospores. According to the Dictionary of the Fungi (10th edition, 2008), the genus contains 42 species that are widely disributed in temperate

Temperate

In geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally relatively moderate, rather than extreme hot or cold...

areas.