''Gyalideopsis buckii'' is a species of
bark-dwelling lichen in the family
Gomphillaceae
The Gomphillaceae are a family of lichen-forming fungi in the order Graphidales. Species in this family are found mostly in tropical regions. The family underwent a major molecular phylogenetics-led reorganisation in 2023, in which 17 genera were ...
. It is found in the United States.
Taxonomy
The lichen was originally
described by botanist William Russell Buck in 1980, as ''Tricharia vezdae'', based on specimens collected from the southeastern United States. The
type specimen
In biology, a type is a particular wikt:en:specimen, specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally associated. In other words, a type is an example that serves to ancho ...
was collected in
Natchez Trace State Park
Natchez Trace State Park is a state park located in western Tennessee, in the United States. It was named for the historic Natchez Trace woodland path, an important wilderness trail during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The park covers ...
,
Tennessee
Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...
, where it was found growing on the branches of a shrub (possibly ''
Vaccinium arboreum
''Vaccinium arboreum'' (sparkleberry or farkleberry) is a species of ''Vaccinium'' native to the southeastern and south-central United States.
Description
''Vaccinium arboreum'' is a shrub (rarely a small tree) growing to , rarely tall, with a ...
'') in an area that was dry and sandy.
In 2005, lichenologists
Robert Lücking
Robert Lücking (born 1964) is a German lichenologist, known for his extensive research on foliicolous lichens (lichens that live on leaves) and his significant contributions to the taxonomy, ecology, and biodiversity of fungi and lichens. He e ...
,
Emmanuël Sérusiaux
Emmanuël Sérusiaux (born 3 October 1953) is a Belgian lichenologist. His career, spanning more than four decades, has combined both lichenology research and political aspects of nature conservation. He spent several periods working as a res ...
, and
Antonín Vězda
Antonín (Toni) Vězda (25 November 1920 – 10 November 2008) was a Czech lichenologist. After completing a university education that was postponed by World War II, Vězda taught botany at the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Czech U ...
reorganized the
systematics
Systematics is the study of the diversification of living forms, both past and present, and the relationships among living things through time. Relationships are visualized as evolutionary trees (synonyms: phylogenetic trees, phylogenies). Phy ...
of the family Gomphillaceae with
cladistic analysis
Cladistics ( ; from Ancient Greek 'branch') is an approach to biological classification in which organisms are categorized in groups ("clades") based on hypotheses of most recent common ancestry. The evidence for hypothesized relationships is ...
. As part of this reorganization, ''Tricharia vezdae'' was to be transferred to the genus ''
Gyalideopsis
''Gyalideopsis'' is a genus of lichens in the family Gomphillaceae. The genus was circumscribed by the Czech lichenologist Antonín Vězda in 1972.
Species
, Species Fungorum (in the Catalogue of Life) accepts 52 species of ''Gyalideopsis''.
*'' ...
'', but the name ''Gyalideopsis vezdae'' was already in use for another species. A
new name was given to the taxon, with the
specific epithet
In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...
''buckii'' honoring the original describer.
The lichen has been previously noted by Vězda as a probable member of ''
Tricharia
''Tricharia'' is a genus of lichens in the family Gomphillaceae. It has an estimated 30 species.
Taxonomy
Recent molecular studies have shown that the long, carbon-black bristles (sterile ) that once united many species under ''Tricharia'' evol ...
'', but he found a sterile specimen (without
ascospore
In fungi, an ascospore is the sexual spore formed inside an ascus—the sac-like cell that defines the division Ascomycota, the largest and most diverse Division (botany), division of fungi. After two parental cell nucleus, nuclei fuse, the ascu ...
s or
apothecial structures) and was unable to describe it as a new species without this information.
Buck's original epithet for the species, ''vezdae'', acknowledges Vězda's original work with the species.
Description
The main characteristics of ''Gyalideopsis buckii'' are its growth on bark (many ''Gyalideopsis'' lichens instead
grow on leaves), the few sterile hairs it has, and the distinctive structure of its hyphophores (erect stalked asexual