The Teloschistaceae are a large family of mostly lichen-forming fungi belonging to the class Lecanoromycetes in the division Ascomycota. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, although its members occur predominantly in temperate regions. Most members are lichens that either live on rock or on bark, but about 40 species are lichenicolous – meaning they are non-lichenised fungi that live on other lichens. Many members of the Teloschistaceae are readily identifiable by their vibrant orange to yellow hue, a result of their frequent anthraquinone content. The presence of these anthraquinone pigments, which confer protection from ultraviolet light, enabled this group to expand from shaded forest habitats to harsher environmental conditions of sunny and arid ecosystems during the Late Cretaceous.
Fulgensia is a fungal genus in the family Teloschistaceae. The genus was circumscribed by Abramo Bartolommeo Massalongo and Giuseppe De Notaris in 1853, with Fulgensia vulgaris assigned as the type species. Although the genus has had several species in it at times in its taxonomic history, it is now monotypic, as most of its former species have been transferred to Gyalolechia or other Teloschistaceae genera.
Gyalolechia is a genus of lichen-forming fungi belonging to the family Teloschistaceae. It contains 18 species of crustose lichens.
Athallia is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Teloschistaceae. It was circumscribed in 2013 by Ulf Arup, Patrik Frödén, and Ulrik Søchting, and the type species is Athallia holocarpa. The genus name means "without a thallus".
Blastenia is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Teloschistaceae. The genus was circumscribed in 1852 by Abramo Bartolommeo Massalongo.
Calogaya is a genus of lichen-forming fungi belonging to the family Teloschistaceae. It has 19 species. The genus was circumscribed in 2013 by Ulf Arup, Ulrik Søchting, and Patrik Frödén. The generic name Calogaya honours Dr. Ester Gaya, a Spanish botanist from the University of Barcelona.
Flavoplaca is a genus of crust-like or scaly lichens in the family Teloschistaceae. It has 28 species with a mostly Northern Hemisphere distribution.
Xanthocarpia is a genus of mostly crustose lichens in the family Teloschistaceae. It has 12 species with a largely Northern Hemisphere distribution.
Igneoplaca is a genus in the subfamily Xanthorioideae of the family Teloschistaceae. It contains a single species, the crustose lichen Igneoplaca ignea.
Squamulea is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Teloschistaceae. It has 15 species. The genus was circumscribed in 2013 by Ulf Arup, Ulrik Søchting, and Patrik Frödén, with Squamulea subsoluta assigned as the type species. Five species were included in the original account of the genus. The genus name alludes to the squamulose growth form of most of its species. Squamulea has a worldwide distribution; when the genus was originally created, the centre of distribution was thought to be in southwestern North America.
Pyrenodesmia is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Teloschistaceae. The genus currently includes 23 recognized species but is believed to contain many more unnamed taxa. The genus was circumscribed in 1852 by Italian lichenologist Abramo Bartolommeo Massalongo. It is characterised by the complete absence of anthraquinones and the presence of Sedifolia-gray pigments in both the thallus and apothecia. These lichens are typically found in calcareous outcrops in the Northern Hemisphere, with biodiversity centres in the Mediterranean basin, Central Asia, and arid regions of western North America.
Xanthocarpia feracissima is a species of saxicolous, crustose lichen in the family Teloschistaceae. It was first formally described as a new species in 1953 by Swedish lichenologist Adolf Hugo Magnusson, as a member of the genus Caloplaca. The type specimen was collected in 1939 by John Walter Thomson in Lake Koshkonong, Wisconsin. In the original description, Magnusson notes a similarity to the lichen now known as Gyalolechia flavovirescens, but distinguishes the new species by its lack of a visible thallus, the sordid-reddish color of its discs, and the "unusually narrow" septa of the spores. Patrik Frödén, Ulf Arup, and Ulrik Søchting transferred the taxon to Xanthocarpia in 2013, following molecular phylogenetic analysis of the family Teloschistaceae.
Xanthocarpia crenulatella is a species of saxicolous (rock-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Teloschistaceae.
Austroplaca hookeri is a species of saxicolous (rock-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Teloschistaceae. It was originally described by Carroll William Dodge in 1965, as Gasparrinia hookeri. The type specimen was originally collected by British botanist and explorer Joseph Dalton Hooker on Cockburn Island; the species is named in his honour. The taxon was transferred to the large genus Caloplaca in 2004, and again to the genus Austroplaca in 2013 as part of a restructuring of the family Teloschistaceae.
Niorma is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Teloschistaceae. It has six fruticose species, with N. derelicta assigned as the type species. The genus was originally proposed by Italian lichenologist Abramo Bartolommeo Massalongo in 1861, but this and several other genera he proposed were largely ignored by later contemporaries. As part of a molecular phylogenetics-led restructuring of the teloschistoid clade of the subfamily Xanthorioideae in the Teloschistaceae, Sergey Kondratyuk and colleagues resurrected the genus for use about 150 years later. Genus Niorma comprises what was previously known as a species complex centred around the taxon previously known as Teloschistes hypoglaucus.
Stellarangia namibensis is a species of saxicolous (rock-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Teloschistaceae. It was first formally described in 1988 by Ingvar Kärnefelt, as a member of the genus Caloplaca. The type specimen was collected by the author from the gravel flats east of Cape Cross, in Omaruru, Namibia. The same species was collected from Angola by Austrian botanist Friedrich Welwitsch in 1859. The taxon was transferred to the genus Stellarangia in 2013 by Ulrik Søchting and colleagues, as part of a molecular phylogenetics-based restructuring of the Teloschistaceae.
Calogaya alaskensis is a species of crustose lichen in the family Teloschistaceae. It was first described as new to science in 2004 by Clifford Wetmore, who placed it in the genus Caloplaca. Ulf Arup and colleagues transferred the taxon to Calogaya in 2013 following a molecular phylogenetics-led restructuring of the Teloschistaceae.
Calogaya decipiens is a species of saxicolous (rock-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Teloschistaceae. It was first scientifically described in 1867 by German lichenologist Ferdinand Christian Gustav Arnold, as a member of the genus Physcia. Ulf Arup and colleagues transferred the taxon to the genus Flavoplaca in 2013, following a molecular phylogenetics-based restructuring of the family Teloschistaceae.
Athallia scopularis is a species of saxicolous (rock-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Teloschistaceae. It was first formally described by Finnish lichenologist William Nylander in 1883 as a member of the genus Lecanora. After having been shuffled to several genera in its taxonomic history, it was transferred to the genus Athallia in 2013 following a molecular phylogenetics-led restructuring of the Teloschistaceae. This lichen grows on sun-lit seaside siliceous rocks, particularly those covered with guano from resting birds. It has been recorded from the Atlantic coasts of North America, Northern Europe, and Greenland.
Flavoplaca arcisproxima is a species of saxicolous (rock-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Teloschistaceae. It is found primarily in the coastal regions of the Crimean Peninsula and the eastern Mediterranean, particularly in Crete, Greece.
