Athallia

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Athallia
Athallia holocarpa
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Ascomycota
Class: Lecanoromycetes
Order: Teloschistales
Family: Teloschistaceae
Genus: Athallia
Arup, Frödén & Søchting (2013)[1][2]
Type species
Athallia holocarpa
(Hoffm.) Arup, Frödén & Søchting (2013)[3][2]

Athallia is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Teloschistaceae.[1] It was circumscribed in 2013 by Ulf Arup, Patrik Frödén, and Ulrik Søchting,[1][2] and the type species is Athallia holocarpa.[3][2] The genus name means "without a thallus".[2]

Description[edit]

Most species in Athallia have a poorly developed thallus, with the exception of A. scopularis. In A. scopularis, the thallus is well-developed and lobate, meaning it has a lobed structure. The cortex, which is the outer layer of the thallus, is typically an amorphous layer or made up of indistinctly organized tissue (indistinctly paraplectenchymatous), a tissue structure previously referred to as "alveolate" by Vondrák et al. in 2009.[4] In A. scopularis, however, the cortex consists of hyphae (fungal filaments) that are arranged anticlinally, meaning they run perpendicular to the surface.[5]

Athallia vitellinula is atypical in the genus for having a conspicuous thallus, but it is usually very thin. The apothecia (fruiting bodies) in Athallia are mainly zeorine, which means they lack a thalline margin. The spores produced are polardiblastic, meaning they are divided into two components (locules) separated by a central septum with a perforation. Pycnidia, which are small, flask-shaped structures producing asexual spores (conidia), are typically orange in Athallia, but they are often absent. The conidia, when present, are ellipsoid in shape.[5]

All Athallia lichens have a suite of secondary metabolites (lichen products) corresponding to the chemosyndrome A as previously elaborated by Søchting.[6]

Species[edit]

As of January 2024, Species Fungorum (in the Catalogue of Life) accept 11 species of Athallia:[7]

Gallery[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c "Athallia". www.mycobank.org. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d e Ulf Arup; Ulrik Søchting; Patrik Frödén (February 2013). "A new taxonomy of the family Teloschistaceae" (PDF). Nordic Journal of Botany. 31 (1): 36. doi:10.1111/J.1756-1051.2013.00062.X. ISSN 0107-055X. Wikidata Q54786251.
  3. ^ a b "Lichens: Athallia holocarpa". lichen.biodiversity.org.au. Retrieved 2021-04-12.
  4. ^ Vondrák, Jan; ŘíHa, Pavel; Arup, Ulf; SøChting, Ulrik (2009). "The taxonomy of the Caloplaca citrina group (Teloschistaceae) in the Black Sea region; with contributions to the cryptic species concept in lichenology". The Lichenologist. 41 (6): 571–604. doi:10.1017/S0024282909008317.
  5. ^ a b Arup, Ulf; Søchting, Ulrik; Frödén, Patrik (2013). "A new taxonomy of the family Teloschistaceae". Nordic Journal of Botany. 31 (1): 16–83. doi:10.1111/j.1756-1051.2013.00062.x.
  6. ^ Søchting, Ulrik (1997). "Two major anthraquinone chemosyndromes in Teloschistaceae". Bibliotheca Lichenologica. 68: 135–144.
  7. ^ "Athallia". Catalogue of Life. Species 2000: Leiden, the Netherlands. Retrieved 20 January 2024.