Vulpicida | |
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Vulpicida canadensis | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Fungi |
Division: | Ascomycota |
Class: | Lecanoromycetes |
Order: | Lecanorales |
Family: | Parmeliaceae |
Genus: | Vulpicida Mattsson & M.J.Lai (1993) |
Type species | |
Vulpicida juniperinus (L.) J.-E.Mattsson & M.J.Lai (1993) | |
Species | |
V. canadensis Contents |
Vulpicida is a genus of lichenized fungi in the family Parmeliaceae. Circumscribed in 1993 to contain species formerly placed in Cetraria , the genus is widespread in Arctic to northern temperate regions, and contains six species. [1] The genus is characterized by the presence of the secondary metabolites pulvinic acid and vulpinic acid, compounds that when combined with usnic acid, give the species their characteristic yellow and green colors.
The genus was circumscribed by Jan-Eric Mattson and Ming-Jou Lai in a 1993 Mycotaxon publication, to contain yellow species containing vulpinic and pinastric acids and a broadly club-shaped ascus. [2] Mattson published a monograph of the genus later that year. [3] The group of species assigned to the genus were previously recognized as a distinct grouping by Finnish lichenologist Veli Räsänen in 1952, who classified them in the genus Cetraria , subgenus Platysma, section Flavidae, and subsection Cucullatae. [4] The type species is Vulpicida juniperinus, [5] originally Lichen juniperinus as described by Carl Linnaeus in the second volume of his 1753 Species Plantarum . [6]
The generic name Vulpicida is derived from the Latin words vulpes ("fox") and -cida ("who kills"); according to Swedish peasant folklore, the lichen, when consumed, kills foxes but not dogs or wolves. [2]
According to a 2009 molecular analysis using internal transcribed spacer data from five of the six known species, Vulpicida is supported as monophyletic (descended from a common evolutionary ancestor) when using Bayesian analysis. Using a different method for phylogenetic inference, PAUP (phylogenetic analysis using parsimony), the genus is paraphyletic, as Allocetraria nests within the same clade. [7]
The thallus (the vegetative body of the lichen) ranges in form from foliose ("leaf-like", with distinctly formed lobes) and forming rosettes, to somewhat fruticose (branch-like and bushy), with lobes usually dorsiventral with raised tips, sometimes even cylindrical or slightly tapering. The upper thallus surface is bright to dark yellow (resulting from usnic acid), sometimes greenish, often wrinkled or somewhat folded. The lower thallus surface is weakly yellow, with black central parts, and lacks pseudocyphellae (tiny pores on the outer surface). The rhizinae (black hair-like strands that attach the lichen to their substrate) are laminal (originating from all across the thallus surface), almost never close to the margin and rather sparse, and either simple or irregularly branched. [2]
The apothecia (the fruit body of the lichen) are somewhat marginal (positioned on the edge or near the margin) or laminal, and comprise a brown disc with an often finely scalloped edge. The asci (spore-bearing cells) are broadly club-shaped, with a wide ocular chamber (a wide, finger-like protrusion of the epiplasm into the apical region of the ascus), and large axial body. The thallus often has a strong staining reaction in Lugol's solution. Spores are spherical or nearly so, and number eight per ascus. Pycnidia are typically abundant, with either a marginal or laminal arrangement. They are generally conspicuous, black, situated on projections, and raised or immersed. The medulla is yellow to orange (from pinastric and vulpinic acids). The pycnidial wall contains some black pigment. The conidia are somewhat flask-shaped or lemon-shaped. [2] The genus is characterized by the presence of the secondary metabolites pulvinic acid and vulpinic acid, which are derived from the shikimic acid biosynthetic pathway. These compounds, combined with usnic acid, give the species their characteristic yellow and green colors. [7]
There are six species in Vulpicida. They are all found in arctic or boreal regions of the Northern Hemisphere. [2]
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V. canadensis | V. pinastri | V. viridis | V. juniperinus | V. tilesii |
Lichenology is the branch of mycology that studies the lichens, symbiotic organisms made up of an intimate symbiotic association of a microscopic alga with a filamentous fungus.
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.
Allocetraria is a genus of lichenized fungi in the family Parmeliaceae. It consists of 12 species, with a center of distribution in China.
Cetrariella is a genus of foliose lichens in the family Parmeliaceae. It contains three species.
Hypogymnia is a genus of foliose lichens in the family Parmeliaceae. They are commonly known as tube lichens, bone lichens, or pillow lichens. Most species lack rhizines that are otherwise common in members of the Parmeliaceae, and have swollen lobes that are usually hollow. Other common characteristics are relatively small spores and the presence of physodic acid and related lichen products. The lichens usually grow on the bark and wood of coniferous trees.
Tuckermannopsis is a genus of foliose lichens in the family Parmeliaceae.
Cetrelia is a genus of leafy lichens in the large family Parmeliaceae. They are commonly known as sea-storm lichens, alluding to the wavy appearance of their lobes. The name of the genus, circumscribed in 1968 by the husband and wife lichenologists William and Chicita Culberson, alludes to the former placement of these species in the genera Cetraria and Parmelia.
Everniopsis is a fungal genus in the family Parmeliaceae. It consists of a single species, the bark-dwelling lichen Everniopsis trulla, which occurs in Africa and South America.
Psiloparmelia is a genus of lichen belonging to the family Parmeliaceae. It contains 13 Southern Hemisphere species, most of which are found growing on rocks at high elevations in South America. There are several characteristic features of the genus that are used to distinguish it from the morphologically similar genera, such as Arctoparmelia, Flavoparmelia, and Xanthoparmelia. These include a dark, velvety lower thallus surface that usually lacks rhizines, a negative test for lichenan, and a high concentration of usnic acid and atranorin in the cortex.
Imshaugia is a genus of seven species of foliose lichens in the family Parmeliaceae. They are commonly known as starburst lichens.
Menegazzia is a genus of lichenized fungi containing roughly 70 accepted species. The group is sometimes referred to as the tree flutes, honeycombed lichens, or hole-punch lichens. The most obvious morphological feature of the genus is the distinctive perforations spread across the upper side of the thallus. This makes the group easy to recognise, even for those not particularly familiar with lichen identification.
Anzia is a genus of foliose lichens known as black-foam lichens in the large family Parmeliaceae. It was formerly included in the monogeneric family Anziaceae, but this has since been subsumed into the Parmeliaceae.
Esslingeriana is a fungal genus in the family Parmeliaceae. The genus is monotypic, containing the single foliose lichen species Esslingeriana idahoensis, commonly known as the tinted rag lichen. It is found in northwestern North America.
Xanthoparmelia conspersa, commonly known as the peppered rock-shield, is a foliose lichen and the type species of genus Xanthoparmelia. It is widely distributed in temperate zones, and has been recorded from Japan, Europe, Africa, North America, and South America.
Cetraria aculeata or the spiny Iceland lichen is a dark brown to black fruticose, soil Iceland lichen from the family Parmeliaceae. The species was first described by German naturalist Johann Christian Daniel Edler von Schreber in 1771 under the name of Lichen aculeatus. Later on Erik Acharius, the "father of lichenology" gave it a name of Cornicularia aculeata, which lately has been changed to Coelocaulon aculeatum. Finally the taxonomic revision of Ingvar Kärnefelt and colleagues assigned the species to the genus Cetraria.
Bulbothrix cinerea is a species of lichenized fungi within the family Parmeliaceae. Among other Bulbothrix species, only B. isidiza has isidia combined with an underside that is light coloured. B. isidiza's laciniae are wider, while its thallus is pale, and contains salazinic acid. In turn, B. ventricosa is larger and a black underside and rhizinae. The African species B. decurtata is an obligately saxicolous lichen, and while similar, it has a dark underside and produces salazinic acid in its medulla. The species' name thus refers to its uncommon dark gray colouration of its thallus.
Hypotrachyna angustissima is a species of foliose lichen in the family Parmeliaceae. This species is characterised by the occurrence of usnic acid in its cortex, and salazinic acid in its medulla and laminal isidia. In this it resembles Hypotrachyna microblasta, but the latter has wider laciniae and larger apothecia, and is laterally overlapping. Its epithet angustissima is derived from the Latin angusti, meaning "narrow", due to this species' very narrow laciniae.
Vulpicida pinastri is a species of foliose lichen in the family Parmeliaceae. The lichen has a greenish-yellow thallus and dorsiventral lobes. It grows on conifers and Betula in North America and Eurasia. It is the only sorediate species in the genus and is distinguished by the bright-yellow marginal soralia. The lichen, originally described by Italian naturalist Giovanni Antonio Scopoli in 1772, was transferred to the newly circumscribed genus Vulpicida by Jan-Eric Mattson and Ming-Jou Lai in 1993.
Punctelia perreticulata is a widely distributed species of foliose lichen in the family Parmeliaceae. It occurs in Mediterranean Europe and Russia, North America, South America, Australia, and New Zealand, where it grows on rocks, bark, or wood. Its main distinguishing features are its thallus surface, marked with many shallow depressions, grooves, or pits, and sorediate pseudocyphellae. The lower side of the thallus is ivory to tan towards the centre and the major secondary metabolite in the medulla is lecanoric acid. A lookalike species with which it has been historically confused is Punctelia subrudecta; this lichen can be distinguished from Punctelia perreticulata by the texture of the thallus surface, or, more reliably, by the length of its conidia.
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.