''Tuckermanella'' 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 ...

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 ...

in the family

Parmeliaceae The Parmeliaceae is a large and diverse family of Lecanoromycetes. With over 2700 species in 71 genera, it is the largest family of lichen-forming fungi. The most speciose genera in the family are the well-known groups: '' Xanthoparmelia'' ( 82 ...

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 ...

in 2003 by lichenologist Ted Essingler to contain s previously placed in the "Cetraria fendleri"

species group In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

. The genus names honors the American lichenologist

Edward Tuckerman Edward Tuckerman (December 7, 1817, in Boston, Massachusetts – March 15, 1886) was an American botanist and professor who made significant contributions to the study of lichens and other alpine plants. He was a founding member of the Natural H ...

. In 2017, Pradeep Divakar and colleagues used a then-recently developed "temporal phylogenetic" approach to identify temporal bands for specific taxonomic ranks in the family Parmeliaceae, suggesting that groups of species that diverged within the time window of 29.45–32.55 million years ago represent genera. They proposed to synonymize ''Tuckermanella'' with '' Nephromopsis'', along with several other Parmelioid genera, so that all the genera within the Parmeliaceae are about the same age. Although some of their proposed taxonomic changes were accepted, the synonymization of the Parmelioid genera with ''Nephromopsis'' was not accepted in a later critical analysis of the temporal phylogenetic approach for fungal classification.

Description

''Tuckermanella'' lichens have small- to medium-sized

foliose A foliose lichen is a lichen with flat, leaf-like , which are generally not firmly bonded to the substrate on which it grows. It is one of the three most common lichen growth forms, growth forms of lichens. It typically has distinct upper and lo ...

(leafy)

thalli 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 ...

, and are generally brown to blackish-green in colour. They have continuous

pseudocyphella Pseudocyphellae (singular ''pseudocyphella'') are structures in lichens that appear as tiny pores on the outer surface (the cortex) of the lichen. They are caused when there is a break in the cortex of the lichen, and the medullary hyphae extend ...

e (tiny pores that allow gas exchange) on the margins of their lobes. '' Tuckermannopsis'' and '' Melanohalea'' are similar in appearance, although species in those genera are typically larger and lack the continuous marginal pseudocyphellae.

Species

*'' Tuckermanella arizonica'' *'' Tuckermanella coralligera'' *'' Tuckermanella fendleri'' *'' Tuckermanella pseudoweberi'' *'' Tuckermanella rickieae'' – Mexico *'' Tuckermanella subfendleri'' *''

Tuckermanella weberi ''Tuckermanella'' is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Parmeliaceae. Taxonomy The genus was circumscription (taxonomy), circumscribed in 2003 by lichenologist Ted Essingler to contain s previously placed in the "Cetraria fendleri" sp ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7851108 Parmeliaceae Lichen genera Lecanorales genera Taxa described in 2003 Taxa named by Theodore Lee Esslinger