''Cora'' is a large

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

basidiolichen Basidiolichens are lichenized members of the Basidiomycota, a much smaller group of lichens than the far more common ascolichens in the Ascomycota. In arctic, alpine, and temperate forests, the most common basidiolichens are in the agaric genus ...

s in the family

Hygrophoraceae The Hygrophoraceae are a family of fungi in the order Agaricales. Originally conceived as containing white-spored, thick-gilled agarics (gilled mushrooms), including '' Hygrophorus'' and ''Hygrocybe'' species (the waxcaps or waxy caps), DNA evi ...

. Modern molecular phylogenetics research has revealed a rich

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...

in this largely tropical genus.

Taxonomy

''Cora'' was originally

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 polyg ...

by the Swedish "Father of Mycology", Elias Magnus Fries, in 1825. He included a single species, until then known as ''Thelephora pavonia'' . Until relatively recently, ''Cora'' was thought to contain one species, or was placed into

synonymy A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

with ''

Dictyonema ''Dictyonema'' is a genus of mainly tropical basidiolichens in the family Hygrophoraceae. The ''Dictyonema'' symbiosis Most lichens are a symbiosis between an ascomycete fungus and a photosynthetic green alga. However, a small percentage of ...

''. ''Cora'' was recognized as an independent genus separate from ''Dictyonema'' in 2013. Molecular phylogenetic analysis using

DNA barcoding DNA barcoding is a method of species identification using a short section of DNA from a specific gene or genes. The premise of DNA barcoding is that by comparison with a reference library of such DNA sections (also called " sequences"), an indi ...

of the

internal transcribed spacer Internal transcribed spacer (ITS) is the spacer DNA situated between the small-subunit ribosomal RNA (rRNA) and large-subunit rRNA genes in the chromosome or the corresponding transcribed region in the polycistronic rRNA precursor transcript. I ...

region has revealed the existence of almost 200 species in the genus, and about 450 species are predicted to exist.

Habitat and distribution

Mexico and (at least formerly) Florida are the northernmost distribution points for the genus ''Cora'', while its southernmost locale is southern Chile. It has its highest biodiversity in the northern

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

. Biogeographic data suggests that ''Cora'' originated in South America and expanded eastward. The vast majority (95%) of the known species are found in the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

, but the genus has also been recorded from

tropical Africa Although tropical Africa is mostly familiar to the West for its rainforests, this biogeographic realm of Africa is far more diverse. While the tropics are thought of as regions with hot moist climates, which are caused by latitude and the trop ...

tropical Asia Tropical Asia refers to the entirety of the areas in Asia with a tropical climate. These areas are of geographic and economic importance due to their natural resources and biodiversity, which include many species of agricultural value. There are ...

, and

South Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

islands. Twelve species and

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

have been described from Mexico; the only species known to have occurred north of Mexico is the

possibly extinct The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biologi ...

'' Cora timucua'', which is known to have formerly existed in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

Species

Species Fungorum ''Index Fungorum'' is an international project to index all formal names (scientific names) in the fungus kingdom. the project is based at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, one of three partners along with Landcare Research and the Institute of Mi ...

accepts 90 species in genus ''Cora''. Cora glabrata (3143611489)

*'' Cora accipiter'' – northern

, South America *'' Cora applanata'' – northern Andes, South America *'' Cora arachnodavidea'' – Colombia *'' Cora arachnoidea'' – northern Andes; Costa Rican

Cordilleras A cordillera is an extensive chain and/or network system of mountain ranges, such as those in the west coast of the Americas. The term is borrowed from Spanish, where the word comes from , a diminutive of ('rope'). The term is most commonly u ...

*'' Cora arborescens'' – Costa Rica *'' Cora arcabucana'' – Colombia *'' Cora aspera'' – Costa Rica; Colombia; Ecuador; Bolivia; Peru *'' Cora aturucoa'' – Colombia *'' Cora auriculeslia'' – Ecuador *'' Cora barbifera'' – Colombia *'' Cora barbulata'' *'' Cora benitoana'' – Oaxaca, Mexico *'' Cora boleslia'' – central Andes, Bolivia *'' Cora buapana'' – Oaxaca, Mexico *'' Cora byssoidea'' – Colombia *'' Cora caliginosa'' – Peru *'' Cora campestris'' – Brazil *'' Cora canari'' – Ecuador *'' Cora caraana'' – Brazil *'' Cora casanarensis'' – Colombia *'' Cora casasolana'' –

Oaxaca Oaxaca ( , also , , from nci, Huāxyacac ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca), is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of Mexico. It is ...

, Mexico *'' Cora caucensis'' – Colombia *'' Cora celestinoa'' – Colombian Andes *'' Cora ciferrii'' *'' Cora comaltepeca'' – Oaxaca, Mexico *'' Cora corani'' – Bolivia *'' Cora corelleslia'' – Colombia *'' Cora crispoleslia'' – northern Andes (Colombia, Ecuador) *'' Cora cuzcoensis'' – Peru *'' Cora cyphellifera'' – Ecuador *'' Cora dalehana'' – Colombia *'' Cora davibogotana'' – Colombia *'' Cora davicrinita'' – northern Andes (Colombia, Ecuador) *'' Cora davidia'' – northern Andes (Colombia and Ecuador) *'' Cora dewisanti'' – northern Andes (Venezuela to Ecuador) *'' Cora dulcis'' – Oaxaca, Mexico *'' Cora elephas'' – Colombia; Ecuador *'' Cora fimbriata'' – Colombia *'' Cora fuscodavidiana'' – Colombia *'' Cora galapagoensis'' – Galapagos Islands *'' Cora garagoa'' – Colombia *'' Cora gigantea'' – Colombia *'' Cora glabrata'' *'' Cora gomeziana'' – Costa Rica *'' Cora guajalitensis'' – Ecuador *'' Cora guzmaniana'' – Oaxaca, Mexico *'' Cora hafecesweorthensis'' – Colombia *'' Cora haledana'' – Costa Rica *'' Cora hawksworthiana'' – Chile; Colombia; Costa Rica *'' Cora hirsuta'' *'' Cora hochesuordensis'' – Bolivia *'' Cora hymenocarpa'' – Costa Rica *'' Cora imi'' – Costa Rica *'' Cora inversa'' – Colombia *'' Cora itabaiana'' – Brazil *'' Cora ixtlanensis'' – Oaxaca, Mexico *'' Cora lawreyana'' – Veracruz, Mexico *'' Cora leslactuca'' – Colombia *'' Cora marusae'' – Oaxaca, Mexico *'' Cora maxima'' – Bolivia *'' Cora minor'' *'' Cora minutula'' – Ecuador *'' Cora palaeotropica'' – Sri Lanka *'' Cora palustris'' – Costa Rica *'' Cora parabovei'' – Bolivia *'' Cora paraciferrii'' – northern Andes (Colombia and Venezuela) *'' Cora paraminor'' – Costa Rica *'' Cora pastorum'' – Colombia *'' Cora pavonia'' *'' Cora pichinchensis'' – Ecuadorian Andes *'' Cora pikynasa'' – Colombia *'' Cora pseudobovei'' – Bolivia *'' Cora pseudocorani'' – Bolivia *'' Cora putumayensis'' – Colombia *'' Cora quillacinga'' – Colombia *'' Cora rothesiorum'' – Colombia *'' Cora rubrosanguinea'' – Ecuador *'' Cora sanctae-helenae'' – Saint Helena *'' Cora santacruzensis'' – Galapagos, Ecuador *'' Cora schizophylloides'' – Colombia *'' Cora setosa'' – Colombia *'' Cora smaragdina'' – Costa Rica *'' Cora soredavidia'' – Costa Rica *'' Cora squamiformis'' – Ecuadorian and Bolivian high Andes *'' Cora strigosa'' – Peru *'' Cora subdavicrinita'' – northern Andes (Colombia, Ecuador) *'' Cora suturifera'' – Ecuador *'' Cora terrestris'' – Costa Rica *'' Cora terricoleslia'' – Bolivia *'' Cora timucua'' –

, United States (possibly extinct) *'' Cora totonacorum'' – Veracruz, Mexico *'' Cora trindadensis'' – Ilha da Trindade (Brazil) *'' Cora udebeceana'' – Colombia *'' Cora undulata'' – Colombia *'' Cora urceolata'' – Colombia *'' Cora verjonensis'' – Colombia *'' Cora viliewoa'' – Costa Rica; Colombia; Ecuador *'' Cora yukiboa'' –

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

*'' Cora zapotecorum'' – Oaxaca, Mexico

References

Cited literature

* * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q63413143 * Agaricales genera Lichen genera Taxa named by Elias Magnus Fries Taxa described in 1825 Basidiolichens