Athallia | |
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Athallia holocarpa | |
Scientific classification
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Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Fungi |
Division: | Ascomycota |
Class: | Lecanoromycetes |
Order: | Teloschistales |
Family: | Teloschistaceae |
Genus: |
Athallia Arup, Frödén & Søchting (2013) [1] [2] |
Type species | |
Athallia holocarpa |
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]
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]
As of January 2024 [update], Species Fungorum (in the Catalogue of Life) accept 11 species of Athallia: [7]