Scutula
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| Scutula | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Ascomycota |
| Class: | Lecanoromycetes |
| Order: | Lecanorales |
| Family: | Ramalinaceae |
| Genus: | Scutula Tul. (1852) |
| Type species | |
| Scutula wallrothii Tul. (1852) | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
| |
Scutula is a genus of lichenicolous fungi in the family Ramalinaceae.
The genus Scutula was circumscribed by French botanist Louis René Étienne Tulasne in 1862.[2] The limits of the generic circumscription as well as the limits of certain species in Scutula was confused for a long time.[3][4][5][6] In 1997, Triebel and colleagues applied the name Scutula specifically to a group of species growing on hosts of the Lecanorales suborder Peltigerineae, a monophyletic grouping of cyanobacteria-associated lichens.[7] Before this, Scutula was applied to a diverse set of unrelated lichenicolous fungi featuring hyaline spores with a single septum and sessile apothecia.[8]
Once classified in the family Micareaceae, molecular phylogenetic analysis showed Scutula to be nested within the Ramalinaceae, closely related to the genus Toninia.[9] This familial placement has been accepted in recent large-scale updates of fungal classifications.[10][11][12]