''Athallia'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a hybrid colony (biology), colony of algae or cyanobacteria living symbiotically among hypha, filaments of multiple fungus species, along with yeasts and bacteria embedded in the cortex or "skin", in a mutualism (biology), m ...

-forming

fungi A fungus (: fungi , , , or ; or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one ...

in the family

Teloschistaceae The Teloschistaceae are a large family (biology), family of mostly lichen-forming fungi belonging to the class (taxonomy), class Lecanoromycetes in the division (botany), division Ascomycota. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, althoug ...

. It was

circumscribed In geometry, a circumscribed circle for a set of points is a circle passing through each of them. Such a circle is said to ''circumscribe'' the points or a polygon formed from them; such a polygon is said to be ''inscribed'' in the circle. * Circum ...

in 2013 by Ulf Arup, Patrik Frödén, and Ulrik Søchting, and the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

is '' Athallia holocarpa''. The genus name means "without a thallus".

Description

Most species in ''Athallia'' have a poorly developed

thallus Thallus (: thalli), from Latinized Greek (), meaning "a green shoot" or "twig", is the vegetative tissue of some organisms in diverse groups such as algae, fungi, some liverworts, lichens, and the Myxogastria. A thallus usually names the entir ...

, with the exception of ''A. scopularis''. In ''A. scopularis'', the thallus is well-developed and , meaning it has a lobed structure. The , which is the outer layer of the thallus, is typically an amorphous layer or made up of indistinctly organized tissue (indistinctly ), a tissue structure previously referred to as "alveolate" by Vondrák et al. in 2009. In ''A. scopularis'', however, the cortex consists of

hypha A hypha (; ) is a long, branching, filamentous structure of a fungus, oomycete, or actinobacterium. In most fungi, hyphae are the main mode of vegetative growth, and are collectively called a mycelium. Structure A hypha consists of one o ...

e (fungal filaments) that are arranged , meaning they run perpendicular to the surface. ''Athallia vitellinula'' is atypical in the genus for having a conspicuous thallus, but it is usually very thin. The

apothecia An ascocarp, or ascoma (: ascomata), is the fruiting body ( sporocarp) of an ascomycete phylum fungus. It consists of very tightly interwoven hyphae and millions of embedded asci, each of which typically contains four to eight ascospores. As ...

(fruiting bodies) in ''Athallia'' are mainly , which means they lack a . The spores produced are , meaning they are divided into two components () separated by a central

septum In biology, a septum (Latin language, Latin for ''something that encloses''; septa) is a wall, dividing a Body cavity, cavity or structure into smaller ones. A cavity or structure divided in this way may be referred to as septate. Examples Hum ...

with a perforation.

Pycnidia A pycnidium (plural pycnidia) is an asexual fruiting body produced by mitosporic fungi, for instance in the order Sphaeropsidales ( Deuteromycota, Coelomycetes) or order Pleosporales (Ascomycota, Dothideomycetes). It is often spherical or inve ...

, which are small, flask-shaped structures producing

asexual Asexual or Asexuals may refer to: *Asexual reproduction **Asexual reproduction in starfish *Asexuality, the lack of sexual attraction to anyone or lack of interest in or desire for sexual activity. **Gray asexuality, the spectrum between asexualit ...

spores (

conidia A conidium ( ; : conidia), sometimes termed an asexual chlamydospore or chlamydoconidium (: chlamydoconidia), is an asexual, non- motile spore of a fungus. The word ''conidium'' comes from the Ancient Greek word for dust, ('). They are also ...

), are typically orange in ''Athallia'', but they are often absent. The

, when present, are

ellipsoid An ellipsoid is a surface that can be obtained from a sphere by deforming it by means of directional Scaling (geometry), scalings, or more generally, of an affine transformation. An ellipsoid is a quadric surface; that is, a Surface (mathemat ...

in shape. All ''Athallia'' lichens have a suite of

secondary metabolite Secondary metabolites, also called ''specialised metabolites'', ''secondary products'', or ''natural products'', are organic compounds produced by any lifeform, e.g. bacteria, archaea, fungi, animals, or plants, which are not directly involved ...

s (

lichen product Lichen products, also known as lichen substances, are organic compounds produced by a lichen. Specifically, they are secondary metabolites. Lichen products are represented in several different chemical classes, including terpenoids, orcinol deri ...

s) corresponding to the A as previously elaborated by Søchting.

Species

Species Fungorum ''Index Fungorum'' is an international project to index all formal names (Binomial nomenclature, scientific names) in the fungus Kingdom (biology), kingdom. As of 2015, the project is based at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, one of three partn ...

(in the

Catalogue of Life The Catalogue of Life (CoL) is an online database that provides an index of known species of animals, plants, fungi, and microorganisms. It was created in 2001 as a partnership between the global Species 2000 and the American Integrated Taxono ...

) accept 11 species of ''Athallia'': * '' Athallia alnetorum'' * '' Athallia brachyspora'' * '' Athallia cerinella'' * '' Athallia cerinelloides'' * '' Athallia holocarpa'' * '' Athallia inconnexa'' * '' Athallia pyracea'' * '' Athallia saxifragarum'' * '' Athallia scopularis'' * '' Athallia vitellinula''

Gallery

Athallia scopularis 90080917.jpg, ''A. scopularis'' Athallia cerinelloides 111552993.jpg, ''A. cerinelloides'' File:Athallia holocarpa Droker.jpg, ''A. holocarpa''

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q23073040 Teloschistales Teloschistales genera Lichen genera Taxa described in 2013 Taxa named by Ulf Arup Taxa named by Patrik Frödén Taxa named by Ulrik Søchting