Belly-shaped Hard Grass vs Common Tarcrust

Aegilops ventricosa compared with Diatrype stigma

Key Differences

Belly-shaped Hard Grass is Least Concern while Common Tarcrust is Not Evaluated.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Belly-shaped Hard Grass	Common Tarcrust
Kingdom	Plantae (Plants)	Fungi (Fungi)
Phylum	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)	Ascomycota (Sac Fungi)
Class	Liliopsida (Monocots)	Sordariomycetes (Sordariomycetes)
Order	Poales (Grasses)	Xylariales (Xylariales)
Family	Poaceae (Grass Family)	Diatrypaceae
Genus	Aegilops	Diatrype
Species	Aegilops ventricosa	Diatrype stigma

Conservation Status

Belly-shaped Hard Grass

LC — Least Concern

Common Tarcrust

NE — Not Evaluated

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Belly-shaped Hard Grass	Common Tarcrust
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Belly-shaped Hard Grass

Habitat

Typically found in grasslands, wetlands, forests, and cultivated landscapes.

Range

Distributed across Belgium, France, Netherlands, and United Kingdom.

Common Tarcrust

Habitat

Native to Europe, inhabiting ecosystems characteristic of the region.

Range

Distributed across Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, and Sweden.

Belly-shaped Hard Grass

The Belly-shaped Hard Grass (Aegilops ventricosa) is a species in the genus Aegilops. It is currently classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. Typically found in grasslands, wetlands, forests, and cultivated landscapes.

Common Tarcrust

<em>Diatrype stigma</em>, the common tarcrust, is a saprotrophic fungus in the family Diatrypaceae, found across Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, and Sweden, as well as more broadly in Europe and temperate regions globally. It grows as a crust-like, charcoal-black stromata on the dead bark and branches of deciduous hardwoods, particularly hazel, beech, and alder. The fruiting bodies are typically flat to slightly raised, dark gray to black patches that contain numerous embedded perithecia in which ascospores are produced. This fungus plays an important ecological role as a decomposer, breaking down dead woody material and recycling nutrients in forest ecosystems. It is Not Evaluated on the IUCN Red List; given its broad distribution on common substrates, it is generally considered widespread. The species reproduces via wind-dispersed ascospores released from the perithecia. Diet, as a saprotrophic organism, consists of dead organic woody matter. Biological traits such as colony growth rates, spore output, and longevity remain poorly documented in standardized quantitative assessments.