''Phaeographopsis'' 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 ...

script lichen A script lichen, or graphid lichen, is a member of a group of lichens which have spore producing structures that look like writing on the lichen body. The structures are elongated and narrow apothecia called lirellae, which look like short scribbl ...

s in the family

Graphidaceae The Graphidaceae are a family of lichen-forming fungi in the order Graphidales. The family contains nearly a hundred genera and more than 2000 species. Although the family has a cosmopolitan distribution, most Graphidaceae species occur in tropic ...

. It has three species.

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 ...

by the Dutch lichenologist

Harrie Sipman Henricus (Harrie) Johannes Maria Sipman (born 1945) is a retired Dutch lichenologist who specialised in tropical and subtropical lichens and authored or co-authored over 250 scientific publications. He was the curator of the lichen herbarium at ...

in 1997, with '' P. indica'' 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 ...

; this species had originally been described as a member of ''

Phaeographis ''Phaeographis'' is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Graphidaceae. It has an estimated 180 species. Taxonomy The genus ''Phaeographis'' was circumscribed by the Swiss lichenologist Johannes Müller Argoviensis in 1882. However, its ...

''. However, this species was not

validly published In botanical nomenclature, a validly published name is a name that meets the requirements in the ''International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants'' (''ICN'') for valid publication. Valid publication of a name represents the minim ...

because it did not provide a specific page number, but rather a range of pages (an interval) where the original description could be found. This general reference to a range of pages does not meet the precise requirements of the

International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants The ''International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants'' (ICN or ICNafp) is the set of rules and recommendations dealing with the formal botanical names that are given to plants, fungi and a few other groups of organisms, all tho ...

. The name was published validly a decade later in 2007.

Description

Genus ''Phaeographopsis'' is characterised by a crust-like form (

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 ...

) that typically grows on the bark of trees (

corticolous This glossary of mycology is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to mycology, the study of fungi. Terms in common with other fields, if repeated here, generally focus on their mycology-specific meaning. Related terms can be found ...

). Its growth is just beneath the outer bark layer of the tree (epiphloeodic). This positions ''Phaeographopsis'' closely to the genus ''

'', yet it can be distinguished by several key characteristics. One of the primary differences lies in the structure of its , which are the reproductive spores produced in the asci. In ''Phaeographopsis'', these ascospores lack an internal spore wall (), which is a notable deviation from some related lichens. Additionally, the asci of ''Phaeographopsis'' are characterised by a thin dome at the apex, a distinct structural feature. The

paraphyses Paraphyses are erect sterile filament-like support structures occurring among the reproductive apparatuses of fungi, ferns, bryophytes and some thallophytes. The singular form of the word is paraphysis. In certain fungi, they are part of the f ...

(sterile filaments among the asci) in this genus are branched at the tips (apically branched). Unlike many lichens, ''Phaeographopsis'' does not have a protective outer layer (

cortex Cortex or cortical may refer to: Biology * Cortex (anatomy), the outermost layer of an organ ** Cerebral cortex, the outer layer of the vertebrate cerebrum, part of which is the ''forebrain'' *** Motor cortex, the regions of the cerebral cortex i ...

) on its

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 the main vegetative body of the lichen. Furthermore, this genus produces

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 ...

(tiny fruiting bodies that release asexual spores) atop small, rounded protrusions known as .

Species

* ''

Phaeographopsis indica ''Phaeographopsis'' is a genus of script lichens in the family Graphidaceae. It has three species. Taxonomy The genus was circumscription (taxonomy), circumscribed by the Dutch lichenologist Harrie Sipman in 1997, with ''Phaeographopsis indica, ...

'' – India * ''

Phaeographopsis neotropica ''Phaeographopsis'' is a genus of script lichens in the family Graphidaceae. It has three species. Taxonomy The genus was circumscribed by the Dutch lichenologist Harrie Sipman in 1997, with '' P. indica'' assigned as the type species; th ...

'' – Costa Rica * ''

Phaeographopsis palaeotropica ''Phaeographopsis'' is a genus of script lichens in the family Graphidaceae. It has three species. Taxonomy The genus was circumscription (taxonomy), circumscribed by the Dutch lichenologist Harrie Sipman in 1997, with ''Phaeographopsis indica, ...

'' – Cameroon

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q21223217 Graphidaceae Graphidales genera Lichen genera Taxa described in 1997 Taxa named by Harrie Sipman