Teloschistes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Teloschistes | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Teloschistes flavicans | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Ascomycota |
| Class: | Lecanoromycetes |
| Order: | Teloschistales |
| Family: | Teloschistaceae |
| Genus: | Teloschistes Norman (1853) |
| Type species | |
| Teloschistes flavicans (Sw.) Norman (1853) | |
| Species | |
|
See text | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
| |
Teloschistes is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Teloschistaceae, of which it is the namesake.[2] Species of Teloschistes are among the most visually striking lichens, typically forming small, bushy, much-branched growths in vivid shades of yellow to orange, colours produced by anthraquinone pigments, particularly parietin. The genus has a worldwide distribution, with species occurring on twigs, bark, and rock surfaces in open, well-lit habitats ranging from coastal scrub and semi-arid shrublands to alpine zones.
The genus Teloschistes was circumscribed by the Norwegian lichenologist Johannes Musaeus Norman in 1853. He characterised it by small, oval spores with thin, smooth, hyaline walls, lacking oil in the central lumen; each end bears a tiny oil-bearing receptacle, the receptacles being joined by a slender funiculus that vanishes as the spores mature. The apothecia (fruiting bodies) are parmelioid or biatorine. Norman placed the "true Citrini" (yellow to orange forms) in Teloschistes, arguing that when defining genera one must give greater weight to the structure of the fruiting bodies than to the thallus: Teloschistes unites species with a fully developed fruticose thallus and others with a very reduced, almost crustose thallus. He noted that spores of different species (e.g., flavicantis, ferruginei, aurei) cannot be reliably distinguished, and that microscopic study of colour—reflecting the organism's chemical life—together with habitat, distribution, and intermediates, supports the close affinity of these Citrine forms within the genus.[3] The genus name Teloschistes is derived from the Greek τέλειος (teleios, meaning 'complete' or 'perfect') and σχιστός (schistos, meaning 'split' or 'divided'), referring to the distinctly separated or divided nature of the thallus structure.[4] The genus was originally named Borrera by Swedish lichenologist Erik Acharius,[5] after the English botanist William Borrer, but this name was later formally rejected (nomen rejiciendum) to avoid confusion with the similarly spelled Borreria, a conserved name for a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae.[6][7]
In 2013, Sergey Kondratyuk and colleagues proposed to resurrect Niorma, a genus originally established by Abramo Bartolommeo Massalongo in 1861,[8] to accommodate the species complex centred around Teloschistes hypoglaucus.[9] Under this proposal, several species would be transferred out of Teloschistes into the revived genus. However, this circumscription has not been universally accepted. Wilk and colleagues (2021) argued that Teloschistes forms a genetically diverse but strongly supported clade, and preferred to retain the broader genus concept of Arup et al. (2013)[10] until more data become available.[11]
_Vain_996983.jpg)
