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.
Clavascidium is a genus of lichens in the family Verrucariaceae. The genus was circumscribed in 1996 by Austrian lichenologist Othmar Breuss. Because the type species of the genus, Clavascidium umbrinum, has been shown using molecular phylogenetics to belong to genus Placidium, Cécile Gueidan and colleagues proposed to unite Clavascidium with Placidium in a 2009 publication. Despite this, the genus has been retained in recent publications of fungal classification.
Placidium is a genus of crustose to squamulose to almost foliose lichens. The genus is in the family Verrucariaceae. Most members grow on soil, but some grow on rock (saxicolous). The fruiting bodies are perithecia, flask-like structures immersed in the lichen body (thallus) with only the top opening visible, dotting the thallus. Lichen spot tests are all negative. Members of the genus lack rhizines, but otherwise resemble members of the genus Clavascidium.
Peltula is a genus of small dark brown to olive or dark gray squamulose lichens that can be saxicolous ) or terricolous. Members of the genus are commonly called rock-olive lichens. They are cyanolichens, with the cyanobacterium photobiont from the genus Anacystis. They are umbilicate with flat to erect squamule lobes that attach from a central holdfast or cluster of rhizenes. Lichen spot tests are usually negative.
Hypogymnia congesta is a rare species of foliose lichen in the family Parmeliaceae. Found in China, it was formally described as a new species in 2003. The lichen grows on the bark and wood of conifers and bamboo. Hypogymnia congesta has a brown to brownish-grey foliose thallus measuring up to 8 cm (3.1 in) long or broad, with a cartilage-like texture. The lichen is chemically distinct, containing physodic acid and virensic acid; the latter substance is otherwise unknown from genus Hypogymnia.
Teuvoa is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Megasporaceae. It was first classified by lichenologists Mohammad Sohrabi and Steven Leavitt in 2013, with Teuvoa uxoris asigned as the type species. This genus was delineated from the larger genus, Aspicilia, following a molecular phylogenetic analysis which revealed that the Aspicilia uxoris species group constituted a distinct lineage in the Megasporaceae. Initially containing three species, two additional species native to China were added in 2018. Teuvoa is characterised by its small ascospores and conidia, and the absence of secondary metabolites.
Biatora kalbii is a species of squamulose lichen in the family Ramalinaceae. It has a pantropical distribution.
Allocetraria corrugata is a species of foliose lichen in the family Parmeliaceae. It is found in high-elevation locations in Yunnan, China, where it grows on rocks with mosses.
Hypogymnia flavida is a species of foliose lichen in the family Parmeliaceae. It is found in mountainous locations of east Asia, where it grows on the bark and wood of woody plants. It has a relatively large yellowish thallus.
Hypogymnia papilliformis is a rare species of foliose lichen in the family Parmeliaceae. Found in China and the Russian Far East, it was formally described as a new species in 2015 by Bruce McCune, Svetlana Tchabanenko, and Xin Li Wei. The type specimen was collected by the second author in the Lazovsky Nature Reserve at an altitude of 600 m (2,000 ft); here, in a mixed conifer–broadleaved forest, it was found growing on Korean pine. The lichen has also been recorded from a mixed forest in the mountains of Shaanxi Province in China, at an altitude of 1,500 m (4,900 ft). The specific epithet papilliformis alludes to the papillose texture of the upper thallus surface. Secondary compounds that occur in Hypogymnia papilliformis include atranorin, and physodic acid as major metabolites, and minor amounts of 2'-O-methylphysodic acid and vittatolic acid.
Peltigera wulingensis is a species of terricolous (ground-dwelling), foliose lichen in the family Peltigeraceae. Originally described from specimens found in northern China, it has since been recorded in Canada, Norway, and Russia.
Atla recondita is a rare alpine species of saxicolous (rock-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Verrucariaceae. Found in Sweden, it was formally described as new to science in 2015 by Sanja and Leif Tibell. The type specimen was collected from Hamrafjället at an altitude of 1,075 m (3,527 ft); there, it was found growing on calciferous rocks. It is known only from a few locations in this area, collected at an altitude range between 610 and 1,075 m. The lichen has a thin olive brown-coloured thallus and ascospores with 9–15 transverse septa and 3–4 longitudinal septa. The authors note that it is not possible to distinguish this species from the similar Polyblastia by morphology alone.
Clavascidium sinense is a species of squamulose (scaley), ground-dwelling lichen in the family Verrucariaceae. Found in Northwest China, it was formally described as a new species in 2022 by Tingting Zhang and Xinli Wei. The type specimen was collected in Datong City at an altitude of 1,147 m (3,763 ft). The species epithet sinense refers to its Chinese distribution.
Agonimia flabelliformis is a species of corticolous (bark-dwelling) lichen in the family Verrucariaceae. Found in Europe, it was scientifically described as new to science in 2011 by Josef Halda, Paweł Czarnota, and Beata Guzow-Krzemińska. The type specimen was collected in the Gratzen Mountains at an altitude of 805 m (2,641 ft), where it was found growing on the bark of a beech tree. The thallus of the lichen consists of finger-like (dactyliform) to coral-like (coralloid) aggregations of goniocys]s that form a roundish structure. The species epithet flabelliformis refers to the fan-shaped (flabellate) form of the thallus branches. In addition to Europe, the lichen has also been recorded in eastern North America and the Russian Far East.
Hypogymnia pruinoidea is a species of foliose lichen in the family Parmeliaceae. Found in China, it was formally described as a new species in 2012 by Xin-Li Wei and Jiang-Chun Wei. The type specimen was collected from Mt. Taibaishan (Shaanxi) at an elevation of 2,800 m (9,200 ft), where it was found growing on the trunk of Abies. It is only known to occur at this location, a cool and moist montane environment supporting lichen-rich forests and woodlands. The species epithet refers to the pruinose upper thallus surface and lobe tips.
Chiodecton xanthonosorediatum is a species of corticolous (bark-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Roccellaceae. It is native to Brazil, where it occurs in the Atlantic Forest. The lichen was formally described as a new species in 2020 by Dutch lichenologist André Aptroot. The type specimen was collected by the author from Serra da Bodoquena at an altitude of 460 m (1,510 ft).
Lethariella sinensis is a species of fruticose lichen in the family Parmeliaceae. It was formally described as a new species in 1982 by Chinese lichenologists Jiang-Chun Wei and Yu-Mei Jiang. The type specimen was collected from Qamdo at an altitude of 4,300 m (14,100 ft); there, it was found growing on the branch of Thuja. It is an orange, long pendant lichen with a reticulate surface. In 2001, Walter Obermayer showed that the holotype specimen of Lethariella sinensis comprised two chemically unique taxa: one with psoromic acid and the other with norstictic acid. The former was chosen as the lectotype, and as a consequence, Lethariella mieheana became synonymous with L. sinensis.
Placomaronea minima is a species of saxicolous (rock-dwelling) crustose lichen in the family Candelariaceae. Found in South America and Southern Africa, it was formally described as a new species in 2009 by lichenologists Martin Westberg and Patrik Frödén. The type specimen was collected by the second author from the Santiago Metropolitan Region (Chile) at an altitude of about 1,200 m (3,900 ft), where it was found growing on rocks on a hill outside of San José de Maipo. The species epithet minima refers to its small size.
Upretia is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Teloschistaceae. It has three species of saxicolous (rock-dwelling), crustose lichens. Upretia is characterised by its small ascospores and narrow, rod-shaped conidia. The distribution of the genus ranges from mid-altitude rocky terrains in India to both arid and higher altitudinal environments in China.
Upretia squamulosa is a species of saxicolous (rock-dwelling), squamulose (scaly) lichen in the family Teloschistaceae. It was identified as a new species in 2019 from specimens collected in the arid valley of the Jinsha River in Yunnan, China.
