Athallia

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Athallia
Athallia holocarpa 8067465.jpg
Athallia holocarpa
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Ascomycota
Class: Lecanoromycetes
Order: Teloschistales
Family: Teloschistaceae
Genus: Athallia
Arup, Frödén & Søchting (2013)
Type species
Athallia holocarpa
(Hoffm.) Arup, Frödén & Søchting (2013)

Athallia is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Teloschistaceae. Most species have a poorly developed or almost invisible thallus, with the fruiting bodies often appearing to sit directly on the substrate. The genus occurs on bark, wood, and rock, and is found mainly in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. All species share a characteristic set of orange anthraquinone pigments known as chemosyndrome  A.

Contents

Taxonomy

Athallia was described by Ulf Arup, Patrik Frödén and Ulrik Søchting in 2013 during a broader reworking of the family Teloschistaceae. That study set out to replace the traditional, very broad Caloplaca concept with smaller genera that better match evolutionary relationships inferred from DNA data. The authors placed Athallia in the subfamily Xanthorioideae and designated A. holocarpa as the type species. The genus name means "without thallus", referring to the reduced thallus that is common in the group. [1]

In the phylogenetic analyses used to define the genus, Athallia formed a well-supported clade corresponding to the former "Caloplaca holocarpa group". Its nearest relatives were inferred to include Flavoplaca and Calogaya . The authors pointed out that Athallia and Flavoplaca are often hard to separate confidently by appearance alone, and that DNA evidence may be needed for secure placement; they also argued that Athallia cannot simply be merged into Flavoplaca without creating a much broader genus that would have to absorb several additional lineages. As part of establishing the genus, they made new combinations for several species previously placed in Caloplaca and other genera, including the transfer of Caloplaca cerinelloides to Athallia as A. cerinelloides . [1]

Description

Most species in Athallia have a poorly developed thallus, with the exception of A. scopularis. In A. scopularis, the thallus is well-developed and lobate , meaning it has a lobed structure. The cortex , which is the outer layer of the thallus, is typically an amorphous layer or made up of indistinctly organized tissue (indistinctly paraplectenchymatous ), a tissue structure previously referred to as "alveolate" by Vondrák et al. in 2009. [2] In A. scopularis, however, the cortex consists of hyphae (fungal filaments) that are arranged anticlinally , meaning they run perpendicular to the surface. [1]

Athallia vitellinula is atypical in the genus for having a conspicuous thallus, but it is usually very thin. The apothecia (fruiting bodies) in Athallia are mainly zeorine , which means they lack a thalline margin . The spores produced are polaridiblastic , meaning they are divided into two components ( locules ) separated by a central septum with a perforation. Pycnidia, which are small, flask-shaped structures producing asexual spores (conidia), are typically orange in Athallia, but they are often absent. The conidia, when present, are ellipsoid in shape. [1]

All Athallia lichens have a suite of secondary metabolites (lichen products) corresponding to the chemosyndrome  A as previously elaborated by Søchting. [3]

Species

As of January 2026, Species Fungorum (in the Catalogue of Life) accepts 11 species of Athallia. [4]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Arup, Ulf; Søchting, Ulrik; Frödén, Patrik (2013). "A new taxonomy of the family Teloschistaceae". Nordic Journal of Botany. 31 (1): 16–83. doi:10.1111/j.1756-1051.2013.00062.x.
  2. ↑ Vondrák, Jan; Říha, Pavel; Arup, Ulf; SøChting, Ulrik (2009). "The taxonomy of the Caloplaca citrina group (Teloschistaceae) in the Black Sea region; with contributions to the cryptic species concept in lichenology". The Lichenologist. 41 (6): 571–604. doi:10.1017/S0024282909008317.
  3. ↑ Søchting, Ulrik (1997). "Two major anthraquinone chemosyndromes in Teloschistaceae". Bibliotheca Lichenologica. 68: 135–144.
  4. ↑ "Athallia". Catalogue of Life . Species 2000: Leiden, the Netherlands. Retrieved 18 August 2025.
  5. ↑ Vondrák, J.; Halici, M.G.; Güllü, M.; Demirel, R. (2016). "Taxonomy of the genus Athallia and its diversity in Turkey". Turkish Journal of Botany. 40: 319–328.
  6. 1 2 Nylander, W. (1883). "Addenda nova ad Lichenographiam Europaeam. Contin. XL" [New additions to the lichenography of Europe. Continuation 40]. Flora (in Latin). 66: 97–109.
  7. ↑ Kondratyuk, S.Y.; Kärnefelt, I.; Lőkös, L.; Hur, J.S.; Thell, A. (2018). "Coppinsiella and Seawardiella – two new genera of the Xanthorioideae (Teloschistaceae, lichen-forming Ascomycota)" (PDF). Acta Botanica Hungarica. 60 (3–4): 369–386. doi:10.1556/034.60.2018.3-4.8.
  8. ↑ Poelt, J. (1955). "Die Gipfelvegetation und -flora des Wettersteingebirges" [The summit vegetation and flora of the Wetterstein Mountains]. Feddes Repertorium Specierum Novarum Regni Vegetabilis (in German). 58 (1–3): 157–179.
  9. ↑ Frolov, Ivan V.; Himelbrant, Dmitry E.; Stepanchikova, Irina S.; Prokopiev, Ilya A.; Korznikov, Kirill; Zueva, Anna S. (2025). "The Commander Islands as a hotspot for Teloschistales diversity in the North Pacific: a meeting point for different lichen biotas". The Lichenologist. 57 (3–4): 116–143. doi:10.1017/S0024282925101035.
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