''Roccellinastrum'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

of lichen-forming

fungi A fungus (plural, : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of Eukaryote, eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and Mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified ...

in the family Pilocarpaceae. It has seven species.

Taxonomy

The genus was

circumscribed In geometry, the circumscribed circle or circumcircle of a polygon is a circle that passes through all the vertices of the polygon. The center of this circle is called the circumcenter and its radius is called the circumradius. Not every po ...

in 1968 by German lichenologist Gerhard Follman, with '' Roccellinastrum spongoideum'' assigned as the

type species In 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 species that contains the biological type specimen( ...

. This byssoid lichen (appearing wispy, like teased wool) was found growing on cactus spines in the fog oases of western Chile. Follman classified the genus in the family Chrysothricaceae, as he emphasized the taxonomic importance of the byssoid

thallus Thallus (plural: 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. Many of these organisms ...

, and the similarity of the

apothecium An ascocarp, or ascoma (), 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. Ascocarps are mo ...

and

ascus An ascus (; ) is the sexual spore-bearing cell produced in ascomycete fungi. Each ascus usually contains eight ascospores (or octad), produced by meiosis followed, in most species, by a mitotic cell division. However, asci in some genera o ...

structure to those in that family. In 1983,

Aino Henssen Aino Marjatta Henssen (12 April 1925, Elberfeld – 29 August 2011, Marburg), was a German lichenologist and systematist. Her father, Gottfried Henssen, was a folklorist and her mother was Finnish. Education and career Henssen began her studie ...

and colleagues emended the genus and placed it in the family

Lecideaceae The Lecideaceae are a family of lichens in the order Lecideales (Ascomycota, class Lecanoromycetes). Genera According to a recent (2022) estimate, the Lecideaceae comprise 29 genera and about 260 species. The following list indicates the genus ...

. ''Roccellinastrum'' is now classified in the family Pilocarpaceae.

Description

Species in genus ''Roccellinastrum'' are characterized by

apothecia An ascocarp, or ascoma (), 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. Ascocarps are mo ...

of diverse shape that lack a proper margin, and a developmental morphology corresponding to that of the order

Lecanorales The Lecanorales are an order of mostly lichen-forming fungi belonging to the class Lecanoromycetes in the division Ascomycota. The order contains 26 families, 269 genera, and 5695 species. Families * Aphanopsidaceae * Biatorellaceae * Briga ...

. They have small,

amyloid Amyloids are aggregates of proteins characterised by a fibrillar morphology of 7–13 nm in diameter, a beta sheet (β-sheet) secondary structure (known as cross-β) and ability to be stained by particular dyes, such as Congo red. In the hu ...

asci ASCI or Asci may refer to: * Advertising Standards Council of India * Asci, the plural of ascus, in fungal anatomy * Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative * American Society for Clinical Investigation * Argus Sour Crude Index * Association of ...

containing eight spores, and branched

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 fe ...

and excipular

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. Their wispy (''byssoid'') to spongy (''spongiose'') thallus is made of thick–walled hyphae. The phycobiont partners are

green algae The green algae (singular: green alga) are a group consisting of the Prasinodermophyta and its unnamed sister which contains the Chlorophyta and Charophyta/ Streptophyta. The land plants ( Embryophytes) have emerged deep in the Charophyte alg ...

of the order Chlorococcales. The main secondary chemical produced by ''Roccellinastrum'' lichens is protocetraric acid. Other compounds, such as atranorin or squamatic acid, may also be present.

Species

*'' Roccellinastrum candidum'' *'' Roccellinastrum epiphyllum'' *'' Roccellinastrum flavescens'' –

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

*'' Roccellinastrum lagarostrobi'' – Tasmania *'' Roccellinastrum leprocauloides'' –

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, Australia *'' Roccellinastrum neglectum'' *'' Roccellinastrum spongoideum''

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q10656235 Pilocarpaceae Lecanorales genera Lichen genera Taxa described in 1968