''Fulvophyton'' 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 Roccellographaceae. It has 11 species. ''Fulvophyton'' is characterised by its crust-like

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 ...

, which is often pale yellowish-brown in colour. This genus features a from the

green alga The green algae (: green alga) are a group of chlorophyll-containing autotrophic eukaryotes consisting of the phylum Prasinodermophyta and its unnamed sister group that contains the Chlorophyta and Charophyta/ Streptophyta. The land plants ( ...

l genus '' Trentepohlia'' and exhibits a unique arrangement of reproductive structures.

Taxonomy

The genus 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 2011 by lichenologists Damien Ertz and Anders Tehler, as part of a

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

-based restructuring of the order

Arthoniales The Arthoniales is the second largest order of mainly crustose lichens, but fruticose lichens are present as well. The order contains around 1500 species, while the largest order with lichenized fungi, the Lecanorales, contains more than 14000 s ...

. The genus encompasses species that were previously classified in the genus '' Sclerophyton'', as proposed by Laurens Sparrius in 2004. However, these species deviate from the

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * ...

of that genus due to the presence of rounded to

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 ...

ascomata, which are often covered in white , and a

hyaline A hyaline substance is one with a glassy appearance. The word is derived from , and . Histopathology Hyaline cartilage is named after its glassy appearance on fresh gross pathology. On light microscopy of H&E stained slides, the extracellula ...

or pale . 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 ...

of ''Fulvophyton'' is '' F. stalactinum'', a lichen first described by

William Nylander William Andrew Michael Junior Nylander Altelius (born 1 May 1996) is a Swedish professional ice hockey Forward (ice hockey), forward for the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League (NHL). Nylander was selected by the Maple Leafs in t ...

in 1855 (as ''Chiodecton stalactinum'').

Description

The

of ''Fulvophyton'' is

crustose Crustose is a Habit (biology), habit of some types of algae and lichens in which the organism grows tightly appressed to a substrate, forming a biological layer. ''Crustose'' adheres very closely to the Substrate (biology), substrates at all poin ...

and lacks a ; it often has an algal-free zone formed by interwoven

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. The

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

are or shortly , and immersed in the thallus, ranging from 0.05 to 0.6 by 0.05–0.3 mm in size. The hymenial is usually exposed and covered with white . The is thin,

or brown, measuring between 5–35

μm The micrometre (Commonwealth English as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: μm) or micrometer (American English), also commonly known by the non-SI term micron, is a unit of length in the International System ...

. The is hyaline or pale brown, while the displays a brown colouration. are branched and anastomosing. Asci are cylindrical to and 8-spored, measuring 60–120 by 12–25 μm. are hyaline,

fusiform Fusiform (from Latin ''fusus'' ‘spindle’) means having a spindle (textiles), spindle-like shape that is wide in the middle and tapers at both ends. It is similar to the lemon (geometry), lemon-shape, but often implies a focal broadening of a ...

or oblong, straight or slightly curved, featuring 3–7 (up to 12) . They exhibit a macrocephalic ascospores septation pattern, measuring 20–50 by 5–9 μm, and are surrounded by a distinct gelatinous sheath. are immersed and punctiform, appearing black. are hyaline, , and curved, with dimensions of 12–18 by 0.8–1 μm.

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 ''Fulvophyton''. * '' Fulvophyton calcicola'' * '' Fulvophyton cerei'' * '' Fulvophyton desertorum'' * '' Fulvophyton klementii'' * '' Fulvophyton macrosporum'' * '' Fulvophyton murex'' * '' Fulvophyton rostratum'' * '' Fulvophyton serusiauxii'' – Mexico * '' Fulvophyton sorediatum'' * ''

Fulvophyton stalactinum ''Fulvophyton'' is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Roccellographaceae. It has 11 species. ''Fulvophyton'' is characterised by its crustose lichen, crust-like thallus, which is often pale yellowish-brown in colour. This genus featur ...

'' * '' Fulvophyton subseriale''

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q107279762 Arthoniomycetes Arthoniomycetes genera Lichen genera Taxa described in 2011 Taxa named by Damien Ertz Taxa named by Anders Tehler