Lepidocollema

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Lepidocollema
Lepidocollema marianum in Keaau, Hawaii Island
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Ascomycota
Class: Lecanoromycetes
Order: Peltigerales
Family: Pannariaceae
Genus: Lepidocollema
Vain. (1890)
Type species
Lepidocollema carassense
Vain. (1890)

Lepidocollema is a genus of lichens in the family Pannariaceae. It was circumscribed in 1890 to contain a single Brazilian species that has not been collected since. In 2016, the entire family was revised and updated, resulting in the expansion of Lepidocollema to 24 tropical species.

Taxonomay[edit]

Lepidocollema was originally circumscribed in 1890 by Finnish lichenologist Edvard August Vainio with only the type species, L. carassense.[1] This lichen is a gelatinous Parmeliella-like species that has a photobiont from the genus Nostoc. It has only been collected once from Brazil. The family Pannariaceae was revised in 2014 with the help of molecular phylogenetics.[2] As a result, the genus was accepted and 23 tropical species were transferred into it, mostly from the genus Parmeliella. Phylogenetically, Lepidocollema is sister to Physma.[2]

Description[edit]

Lepidocollema is characterised by the formation of large, flat rosettes on a thick layer of rhizohyphae, the presence of a cellular thalline cortex, apothecia with a thalline margin, asci with a wide apical ring-structure, and thin-walled ascospores. Other than the type species, the thallus is heteromerous in all Lepidocollema species.[2] This refers to a tissue arrangement whereby the mycobiont (hyphae) and photobionts (algal cells) are arranged in distinct layers.

Species[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Wainio, Edvard August (1890). Étude sur la classification naturelle et la morphologie des Lichens du Brésil, I–II. Acta Societatis pro Fauna et Flora Fennica (in French and Latin). Vol. 7. Helsinki: J. Simelius. p. 231.
  2. ^ a b c Ekman, Stefan; Wedin, Mats; Lindblom, Louise; Jørgensen, Per M. (2014). "Extended phylogeny and a revised generic classification of the Pannariaceae (Peltigerales, Ascomycota)". The Lichenologist. 46 (5): 627–656. doi:10.1017/S002428291400019X.