Letharia

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Letharia
Letharia vulpina JHollinger crop.jpg
Letharia vulpina in the San Gabriel Mountains, Los Angeles USA.
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Ascomycota
Class: Lecanoromycetes
Order: Lecanorales
Family: Parmeliaceae
Genus: Letharia
(Th.Fr.) Zahlbr. (1892)
Type species
Letharia vulpina
(L.) Hue (1899)
Synonyms [1]
  • Chlorea Nyl. (1855)
  • Evernia subdiv. LethariaTh.Fr. (1871)
  • NylanderariaKuntze (1891)
  • RhytidocaulonNyl. ex Elenkin (1916)

Letharia is a genus of fruticose lichens belonging to the family Parmeliaceae. [2]

There were historically two species of Letharia: L. vulpina and L. columbiana . [3] Recent molecular sequence studies published in 2016 confirm at least 6 species in Western North America alone, with more expected to be confirmed using similar methods in other parts of the world. [4]

The typical photobiont is a green alga of genus Trebouxia . [5]

Here, Letharia vulpina is visualized using an infrared spectrometry. The chlorophyll in the fir needles reflects near infrared wavelengths of light, but the green vulpinic acid of the wolf lichen does not. IR Lichene california.jpg
Here, Letharia vulpina is visualized using an infrared spectrometry. The chlorophyll in the fir needles reflects near infrared wavelengths of light, but the green vulpinic acid of the wolf lichen does not.

Related Research Articles

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Letharia vulpina, commonly known as the wolf lichen, is a fruticose lichenized species of fungus in the family Parmeliaceae. It is bright yellow-green, shrubby and highly branched, and grows on the bark of living and dead conifers in parts of western and continental Europe and the Pacific Northwest and northern Rocky Mountains of North America. This species is somewhat toxic to mammals due to the yellow pigment vulpinic acid, and has been used historically as a poison for wolves and foxes. It has also been used traditionally by many native North American ethnic groups as a pigment source for dyes and paints.

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References

  1. "Synonymy: Letharia (Th. Fr.) Zahlbr., Hedwigia 31: 36 (1892)". Species Fungorum . Retrieved 10 April 2021.
  2. Wijayawardene, Nalin; Hyde, Kevin; Al-Ani, Laith Khalil Tawfeeq; Somayeh, Dolatabadi; Stadler, Marc; Haelewaters, Danny; et al. (2020). "Outline of Fungi and fungus-like taxa". Mycosphere. 11: 1060–1456. doi: 10.5943/mycosphere/11/1/8 .
  3. Brodo, Irwin (2001). Lichens of North America. New Haven: Yale University Press. pp. 411–413.
  4. Altermann, Susanne; Leavitt, Steven D.; Goward, Trevor (September 2016). "Tidying up the genus Letharia: introducing L. lupina sp. nov. and a new circumscription for L. columbiana". The Lichenologist. 48 (5): 423–439. doi:10.1017/S0024282916000396. ISSN   0024-2829. S2CID   88840346.
  5. "Letharia". Consortium of North American Lichen Herbaria.