Naetrocymbaceae | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Fungi |
Division: | Ascomycota |
Class: | Dothideomycetes |
Order: | Pleosporales |
Family: | Naetrocymbaceae Höhnel ex R.C.Harris (1995) |
Type genus | |
Naetrocymbe Körb. ex. Körb. (1865) | |
Genera | |
Bifrontia |
The Naetrocymbaceae are a family of fungi with an uncertain taxonomic placement in the class Dothideomycetes. [1] Some members of the type genus, Naetrocymbe , form lichens. [2] [3] [4]
A lichen is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship. Lichens are important actors in nutrient cycling and act as producers which many higher trophic feeders feed on, such as reindeer, gastropods, nematodes, mites, and springtails. Lichens have properties different from those of their component organisms. They come in many colors, sizes, and forms and are sometimes plant-like, but are not plants. They may have tiny, leafless branches (fruticose); flat leaf-like structures (foliose); grow crust-like, adhering tightly to a surface (substrate) like a thick coat of paint (crustose); have a powder-like appearance (leprose); or other growth forms.
The Parmeliaceae is a large and diverse family of Lecanoromycetes. With over 2700 species in 71 genera, it is the largest family of lichen-forming fungi. The most speciose genera in the family are the well-known groups: Xanthoparmelia, Usnea, Parmotrema, and Hypotrachyna.
Erioderma pedicellatum is a medium-sized, foliose lichen in the family Pannariaceae, commonly called the boreal felt lichen. It grows on trees in damp boreal forests along the Atlantic coast in Canada, as well as in southcentral Alaska and in the Kamchatka Peninsula.
Bacidia is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Ramalinaceae. The genus was circumscribed by Giuseppe De Notaris in 1846. Species in the genus are crust-like lichens with stemless apothecia; they have green algae as photobionts. Their asci have 8 colourless, cylindrical to acicular, multiseptate spores, with curved and thread-like conidia.
Verrucariaceae is a family of lichens and a few non-lichenised fungi in the order Verrucariales. The lichens have a wide variety of thallus forms, from crustose (crust-like) to foliose (bushy) and squamulose (scaly). Most of them grow on land, some in freshwater and a few in the sea. Many are free-living but there are some species that are parasites on other lichens, while one marine species always lives together with a leafy green alga.
Ramalina is a genus of greenish fruticose lichens that grow in the form of flattened, strap-like branches. Members of the genus are commonly called strap lichens or cartilage lichens. Apothecia are lecanorine.
Acanthothecis is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Graphidaceae. The genus was circumscribed by Frederick Edward Clements in 1909.
Cryptothecia is a genus of white to greenish crustose lichens that grow on bark, wood, or leaves. in tropical or subtropical areas worldwide. It has a conspicuous prothallus that develops around its periphery which can be bright red in some species, hence the common name wreath lichen. The main vegetative body (thallus) lacks a cortex (ecorticate and is often immersed in the substrate or byssoid. The medulla is white, well defined, and often peppered with calcium oxalate crystals. Ascomata are not well defined, being cushions of soft white mycelium immersed in the medullary tissue, hence the name from the Greek krypto = "to conceal" and theke = "a container or sheath". There are about 45 described species in the genus according to one source, and 75 species according to another. The genus is in the family Arthoniaceae. It contains Trentepohlia, a green alga, as its photobiont partner.
Gorgadesia is a genus of lichenized fungi in the family Roccellaceae. A monotypic genus, it contains the single species Gorgadesia mira.
Ahtiana is a genus of lichenized fungi known as candlewax lichens in the family Parmeliaceae. A monotypic genus, it contains the single species Ahtiana sphaerosporella or the mountain candlewax lichen, found in western North America. This species was segregated from the genus Parmelia by Canadian lichenologist Trevor Goward in a 1985 publication. It had been suggested that the genus include A. aurescens and A. pallidula based on similarities in morphology, but this transfer is not supported by molecular analysis.
Parmotrema is a genus of lichen belonging to the family Parmeliaceae. It is a large genus, containing an estimated 300 species, with a centre of diversity in subtropical regions of South America and the Pacific Islands.
Xanthoparmelia is a genus of foliose lichen in the family Parmeliaceae. Xanthoparmelia is synonymous with Almbornia, Neofuscelia, Chondropsis, Namakwa, Paraparmelia, and Xanthomaculina. This genus of lichen is commonly found in the United States, as well as Australia, New Zealand and Ecuador.
Lepraria is a genus of leprose crustose lichens that grows on its substrate like patches of granular, caked up, mealy dust grains. Members of the genus are commonly called dust lichens. The main vegetative body (thallus) is made of patches of soredia. There are no known mechanisms for sexual reproduction, yet members of the genus continue to speciate. Some species can form marginal lobes and appear squamulose. Because of the morphological simplicity of the thallus and the absence of sexual structures, the composition of lichen products are important characters to distinguish between similar species in Lepraria.
André Aptroot is a Dutch mycologist and lichenologist.
David John Galloway, FRSNZ was a biochemist, botanist, and lichenologist.
Brian John Coppins is a botanist and lichenologist, considered a world authority on crustose lichens and a leading expert on the genus Micarea.
Punctelia rudecta, commonly known as the rough speckled shield or the speckleback lichen, is a North American species of foliose lichen in the family Parmeliaceae. This species can be readily identified by the light color of the thallus underside, the relatively large lobes at the edges of the thallus, and the tiny white pores present on the top of the thallus that are characteristic of the genus Punctelia. The lichen is quite abundant and widespread in the eastern and southeastern United States, although it also occurs in Canada and northern Mexico, but is less common in these regions. The lichen usually grows on bark, and less commonly on shaded rocks. There are several lookalike Punctelia species; these can often be distinguished from P. rudecta by differences in distribution or in the nature of the reproductive structures present on the thallus.
Naetrocymbe is a genus of fungi belonging to the family Naetrocymbaceae. Some members of the genus form lichens.
Cécile Gueidan is a mycologist and lichenologist who applies morphological and molecular biological methods to the origin and taxonomy of fungi that live in lichen symbioses and within rocks.
Robert Lücking is a German lichenologist. He earned his master's and PhD from the University of Ulm, focusing on the taxonomy, ecology, and biodiversity of foliicolous lichens. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the Mason E. Hale Award for his doctoral thesis, the Augustin Pyramus de Candolle prize for his monograph, and the Tuckerman Award twice for his publications in The Bryologist. Since 2015, he has been serving as the curator of lichens, fungi, and bryophytes at the Berlin Botanical Garden and Botanical Museum, and several lichen species and a genus have been named in his honour.