''Spirographa'' 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 ...

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

. It is the sole genus 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 ...

family Spirographaceae, belong to the order

Ostropales The Ostropales are an order of fungi in the class Lecanoromycetes. The order was circumscribed by Swedish botanist John Axel Nannfeldt in 1932. The order contains 4 families and 46 genera, including 6 genera of uncertain familial placement. Fa ...

. 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 ...

Alexander Zahlbruckner Alexander Zahlbruckner (31 May 1860, Svätý Jur – 1938, Vienna) was an Austrian- Hungarian botanist who specialized in the study of lichens. Johann Babtist Zahlbruckner, an earlier Austrian botanist, was his grandfather. From 1878 to 1883 ...

in 1903, with '' Spirographa spiralis'' later 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 ...

in 1923. The family Spirographaceae was circumscribed by Adam Flakus, Javier Etayo and Jolanta Miadlikowska in 2019 on the basis of

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 ...

analysis. They determined that genus ''Spirographa'' is an independent lineage in the Ostropales,

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

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

containing the families Fissurinaceae,

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 ...

, and

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 ...

Species

References

Ostropales Ostropales genera Taxa described in 1903 Taxa named by Alexander Zahlbruckner Lichenicolous fungi {{Ostropales-stub