The Graphidaceae are a family of lichen-forming fungi in the order Ostropales. The family contains nearly a hundred genera and more than 2000 species. Although the family has a cosmopolitan distribution, most Graphidaceae species occur in tropical regions, and typically grow on bark.
Platygramme is a genus of lichenized fungi in the family Graphidaceae consisting of about 30 species. The genus was circumscribed by Antoine Laurent Apollinaire Fée in 1874.
Fissurina is a genus of lichenized fungi in the family Graphidaceae. It has about 160 species, most of which are found in tropical regions.
Diorygma is a genus of lichenized fungi in the family Graphidaceae. The genus was circumscribed by Franz Gerhard Eschweiler in 1824. Species of the genus are widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions of the world.
Acanthothecis is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Graphidaceae. The genus was circumscribed by Frederick Edward Clements in 1909.
André Aptroot is a Dutch mycologist and lichenologist.
Helge Thorsten Lumbsch is a German-born lichenologist living in the United States. His research interests include the phylogeny, taxonomy, and phylogeography of lichen-forming fungi; lichen diversity; lichen chemistry and chemotaxonomy. He is the Associate Curator and Head of Cryptogams and Chair of the Department of Botany at the Field Museum of Natural History.
Alan W. Archer is a mycologist and taxonomist. He is currently an honorary research associate at Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. He uses chemotaxonomy as well as morphological features in taxonomy and to devise keys, most recently for the genus Pertusaria in the Australasia region.
Salazinic acid is a depsidone with a lactone ring. It is found in some lichens, and is especially prevalent in Parmotrema and Bulbothrix, where its presence or absence is often used to help classify species in those genera.
Acanthothecis salazinica is a species of script lichen in the family Graphidaceae. Found in Panama, it was described as a new species in 2013 by Pieter van den Boom and Harrie J. Sipman. The type specimen was collected near Paraíso, Panamá Province, close to the botanical garden in the Summit Park. Here it was growing on the bark of a cultivated Parmentiera cereifera tree. The lichen contains the secondary chemical salazinic acid, for which it is named. Acanthothecis subclavulifera is quite similar in morphology, but it contains protocetraric acid rather than salazinic acid and it has a different ascospore structure.
Phaeographis salazinica is a species of script lichen in the family Graphidaceae. Found in the Solomon Islands, the lichen was first described as a new species in 2003 by Australian lichenologist Alan W. Archer. He named it Phaeographis salazinica, with the specific epithet referring to the presence of the compound salazinic acid as its major secondary compound. The lichen also contains trace amounts of consalazinic acid, connorstictic acid, norstictic acid, subnorstictic acid, protocetraric acid, and methyl norstictate. The type specimen was collected near Tatamba on Tanabuli Island. The main morphological characteristics of Phaeographis salazinica are the conspicuous lirellae, and the large brown muriform ascospores. Archer transferred the taxon to the genus Phaeographis in 2007.
Acanthothecis megalospora is a species of corticolous (bark-dwelling) lichen in the family Graphidaceae. Found in Brazil, it was formally described as a new species in 2022 by Shirley Cunha Feuerstein and Robert Lücking. The type specimen was collected from a São Paulo farm near Itaguatins (Tocantins); here it was found growing on tree bark in cerrado. The lichen has a whitish grey thallus. Its asci contain a single, more or less rectangular ascospore with 15 to 17 transverse septa. The specific epithet refers to these large spores. Acanthothecis megalospora contains norstictic acid, connorstictic acid, and protocetraric acid, which are lichen products than can be detected using thin-layer chromatography.
Acanthothecis saxicola is a species of saxicolous (rock-dwelling) lichen in the family Graphidaceae. Found in Brazil, it was formally described as a new species in 2022 by André Aptroot, Robert Lücking, and Marcela Eugenia da Silva M.Cáceres. The type specimen was collected near Poço Azul at an altitude of 450 m (1,480 ft); here, in a cerrado forest, it was found growing on an overhanging sandstone. The lichen has an ochraceous white thallus lacking a cortex and a prothallus. Its asci contains eight spores, and the ascospores are hyaline, measuring 22–30 by 5 μm with 6 to 8 transverse septa. Acanthothecis saxicola contains stictic acid, a lichen product detectable using thin-layer chromatography.
Acanthothecis subfarinosa is a species of corticolous (bark-dwelling) lichen in the family Graphidaceae. Found in Brazil, it was formally described as a new species in 2022 by Shirley Cunha Feuerstein. The type specimen was collected from remnant cerrado in Campo Mourão (Paraná). The lichen has a greenish, cracked thallus lacking a cortex and lacking a prothallus. The asci contain 8 spores; the ascospores are hyaline, measuring 22–30 by 5 μm with 6 to 8 transverse septa. Acanthothecis subfarinosa contains norstictic acid, a lichen product that is detectable using thin-layer chromatography.
Acanthothecis submuriformis is a species of corticolous (bark-dwelling) lichen in the family Graphidaceae. Found in Brazil, it was formally described as a new species in 2022 by André Aptroot, Robert Lücking, and Marcela Eugenia da Silva M.Cáceres. The type specimen was collected from the Parque Natural Municipal ; here the lichen was found growing on tree bark in primary rainforest.
Henricus (Harrie) Johannes Maria Sipman is a Dutch lichenologist. He specialises in tropical and subtropical lichens, and has authored or co-authored more than 250 scientific publications. He was the curator of the lichen herbarium at the Berlin Botanical Garden and Botanical Museum from 1983 until his retirement in 2010.
Acanthothecis aquilonia is a species of corticolous lichen in the family Graphidaceae, and was first described in 2008 by Alan Archer and John Alan Elix. The holotype was collected in Australia's Kakadu National Park from a tree trunk in lowland monsoon forest, on 10 August 2005 by Alan Archer.
Diorygma streimannii is a species of script lichen in the family Graphidaceae. Found in Australia, it was formally described as a new species in 2017 by lichenologists Alan W. Archer and John Elix. The type specimen was collected from Cow Bay in Cape Tribulation National Park (Queensland). The species epithet streimannii honours Heinar Streimann (1938–2001), who collected the type and "made important contributions to the study of Australian mosses and lichens".
Diaphorographis is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Graphidaceae. It has two species. The genus was circumscribed in 2009 by lichenologists Alan W. Archer and Klaus Kalb, with D. queenslandica as the type species. The genus is distinguished from Graphis by the I– (iodine-negative) ascospores, and from Carbacanthographis) by the absence of periphysoids. Collectively, the genus is found in northern Queensland, New Caledonia, and the Solomon Islands. Although the genus was originally reported to not contain any lichen products, a later reexamination of the type species revealed the presence of protocetraric acid.
