Leprocaulaceae is a

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

of mostly

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 ...

. It is the single family in the

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

order Leprocaulales. Leprocaulaceae contains three

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

and about 33 species.

Taxonomy

Both the family and the order were

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 ...

by American lichenologists James Lendemer and Brendan Hodkinson in 2013. They studied sterile,

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 previously classified in the genus ''

Lepraria ''Lepraria'' is a genus of leprose (powdery) crustose lichens that grows on its substrate like patches of granular, caked up, mealy dust grains.A taxonomic revision of the North American species of Lepraria s.l. that produce divaricatic acid, w ...

'' using

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 ...

techniques. They redefined the genus '' Leprocaulon'' to include several crustose lichens that were previously placed in ''Lepraria'', and defined the new family and order to contain this genetically distinct grouping of species, including the genus ''Halecania''. ''Speerschneidera'' was included based on the results of a study published a year later. The authors suggested that Leprocaulales is

sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares parents or a parent with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to ref ...

to the

Caliciales Caliciales is an order of mostly lichenized fungi in the class Lecanoromycetes. It consists of two families: Caliciaceae and Physciaceae, which together contain 54 genera and more than 1200 species. The order was circumscribed by American botanis ...

, although in a later phylogenetic study using a temporal approach, it appeared to be more closely related to the

Teloschistales The Teloschistales are an order of mostly lichen-forming fungi belonging to the class Lecanoromycetes in the division Ascomycota. According to one 2008 estimate, the order contains 5 families, 66 genera, and 1954 species. The predominant photob ...

Description

Collectively, Leprocaulaceae is a morphologically diverse family. Most

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...

in the family are sterile lichens that reproduce asexually, and produce the secondary compounds

argopsin Argopsin, also known as 1-chloropannarin, is a secondary metabolite produced by many lichen species, such as '' Biatora cuprea'' and '' Micarea lignaria''. Argopsin (also known as 1'-chloropannarin) is a chlorinated depsidone compound first iso ...

, pannarin, and

usnic acid Usnic acid is a naturally occurring dibenzofuran derivative found in several lichen species with the formula C18H16O7. It was first isolated by German scientist W. Knop in 1844 and first synthesized between 1933 and 1937 by Frank H. Curd and Al ...

. Those taxa that are fertile have lecanorine

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 ...

and

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 ...

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. Genus ''Halecania'' contains one

lichenicolous fungus A lichenicolous fungus is a member of a specialised group of fungi that live exclusively on lichens as their host organisms. These fungi, comprising over 2,000 known species across 280 genera, exhibit a wide range of ecological strategies, includ ...

, and five

lichenicolous lichen A lichenicolous fungus is a member of a specialised group of fungi that live exclusively on lichens as their host organisms. These fungi, comprising over 2,000 known species across 280 genera, exhibit a wide range of ecological strategies, includ ...

Genera

*''

Halecania ''Halecania'' is a genus of fungi in the family Leprocaulaceae. It has 24 species. These lichens form inconspicuous, crust-like films that spread over rock or other surfaces, with colours ranging from chalky white through bluish-grey to browni ...

'' – 22 spp. *'' Leprocaulon'' – ca. 10 spp. *'' Speerschneidera'' – 1 sp.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q21291459 Leprocaulales Lecanoromycetes families Lichen families Taxa described in 2013 Taxa named by James Lendemer