''Gyalectaria'' 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 ...

crustose lichen Crustose lichens are lichens that form a crust which strongly adheres to the Substrate (biology), substrate (soil, rock, tree bark, etc.), making separation from the substrate impossible without destruction. The basic structure of crustose lichen ...

s in the family

Coccotremataceae The Coccotremataceae are a family of lichen-forming fungi in the order Pertusariales. Species in this widely distributed family grow on bark or rocks, especially in maritime regions. Genera , Species Fungorum accepts 3 genera and 23 species, in ...

. It has three species. 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 2010 by Imke Schmitt,

Klaus Kalb Klaus Kalb (born 1942) is a German lichenologist and an authority on tropical lichens. Born in Nuremberg, he studied at the University of Erlangen–Nuremberg before pursuing a career that significantly advanced the field of lichenology, parti ...

and

Helge Thorsten Lumbsch Helge Thorsten Lumbsch (born 1964) is a German-born lichenology, lichenologist living in the United States. His research interests include the phylogeny, taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, and phylogeography of lichen-forming fungi; lichen diversity; ...

, with '' G. jamesii'' assigned as 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 ...

. The three species transferred to the genus were originally placed in the large genus ''

Pertusaria ''Pertusaria'' is a large genus of warty crustose lichen, crustose lichens in the Pertusariaceae family.Field Guide to California Lichens, Stephen Sharnoff, Yale University Press, 2014, The fruiting bodies are usually modified apothecia that im ...

''.

Molecular phylogenetics 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 ...

showed that they belong to a lineage distinct from and unrelated to that genus, but with a

sister group In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...

relationship to the genus ''

Coccotrema ''Coccotrema'' is a genus of lichen-forming fungi. It is the type genus of the family Coccotremataceae, in the order Pertusariales. The genus contains 16 species. Taxonomy ''Coccotrema'' was circumscription (taxonomy), circumscribed by Swiss bot ...

''. The genus name combines ''Gyalect''- (referring to the morphologically similar genus ''

Gyalecta ''Gyalecta'' is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Gyalectaceae that contains 50 species. ''Gyalecta'' was circumscribed by lichenologist Erik Acharius in 1808. It forms associations with Trentepohlia algae. Selected species , Speci ...

'') and -''aria'', taken from the generic name ''Pertusaria''.

Species

*'' Gyalectaria diluta'' *'' Gyalectaria gyalectoides'' *'' Gyalectaria jamesii''

References

Pertusariales Pertusariales genera Taxa described in 2010 Taxa named by Helge Thorsten Lumbsch Taxa named by Klaus Kalb {{Pertusariales-stub