''Flavoplaca'' is a

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 ...

of crust-like or scaly

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.Teloschistaceae The Teloschistaceae are a large family of mostly lichen-forming fungi belonging to the class Lecanoromycetes in the division Ascomycota. The family, estimated to contain over 1800 species, was extensively revised in 2013, including the creation o ...

. It has 28 species with a mostly Northern Hemisphere distribution.

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 polyg ...

in 2013 by Ulf Arup, Patrik Frödén and Ulrik Søchting, with '' Flavoplaca citrina'' 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 ...

. The genus formed a well-supported

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...

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. ''Flavoplaca'' species are closely related to ''

Calogaya ''Calogaya'' is a genus of lichen-forming fungi belonging to the family Teloschistaceae. It has 19 species. The genus was circumscribed in 2013 by Ulf Arup, Ulrik Søchting, and Patrik Frödén. The generic name ''Calogaya'' ("spectacular Gaya" ...

'' species that have lobes. There are other genera with roughly similar morphological features as ''Flavoplaca'' (examples include '' Polycauliona'', '' Orientophila'', '' Sirenophila'', and '' Villophora''), but they are genetically different and have different distributions. Arup and colleagues included 26 species in the genus; most were originally named as members of the genera ''

Caloplaca ''Caloplaca'' is a lichen genus comprising a number of distinct species. Members of the genus are commonly called firedot lichen, jewel lichen.Field Guide to California Lichens, Stephen Sharnoff, Yale University Press, 2014, gold lichens, "ora ...

'' or ''

Lecanora ''Lecanora'' is a genus of lichen commonly called rim lichens.Field Guide to California Lichens, Stephen Sharnoff, Yale University Press, 2014, Lichens in the genus ''Squamarina'' are also called rim lichens. Members of the genus have roughly ci ...

''.

Description

''Flavoplaca'' species have a

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 wer ...

that is either crust-like (

crustose Crustose is a 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 substrates at all points. ''Crustose'' is found on rocks and ...

) or scaly (squamulose), sometimes with indistinct edges, and sometimes with lobes. They often have apothecia, and these are zeorine, meaning that the proper exciple (the ring-shaped layer surrounding the

hymenium The hymenium is the tissue layer on the hymenophore of a fungal fruiting body where the cells develop into basidia or asci, which produce spores. In some species all of the cells of the hymenium develop into basidia or asci, while in others some ...

) is enclosed in the thalline exciple. Pycnidia can be present or absent; the

conidia A conidium ( ; ), sometimes termed an asexual chlamydospore or chlamydoconidium (), is an asexual, non-motile spore of a fungus. The word ''conidium'' comes from the Ancient Greek word for dust, ('). They are also called mitospores due to the ...

have a

bacilliform A bacillus (), also called a bacilliform bacterium or often just a rod (when the context makes the sense clear), is a rod-shaped bacterium or archaeon. Bacilli are found in many different taxonomic groups of bacteria. However, the name ''Bacillu ...

ellipsoid An ellipsoid is a surface that may be obtained from a sphere by deforming it by means of directional scalings, or more generally, of an affine transformation. An ellipsoid is a quadric surface; that is, a surface that may be defined as the ...

shape. Four ''Flavoplaca'' species are lichenicolous; that is, they grow on other lichens. These are '' F. coronata'' (on saxicolous lichens), '' F. microthallina'' (on saxicolous lichens, commonly ''

Hydropunctaria maura ''Hydropunctaria maura'' (still often called by the older name ''Verrucaria maura'') is a species of saxicolous (rock-dwelling), crustose lichen belonging to the family Verrucariaceae. A perennial species that does not experience seasonal variati ...

''), '' F. oasis'' (on saxicolous lichens, particularly ''

Bagliettoa calciseda ''Bagliettoa'' is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Verrucariaceae. The genus was circumscribed by Italian lichenologist Abramo Bartolommeo Massalongo in 1853. ''Bagliettoa'' species are endolithic, growing between the grains of solid ...

''), and '' F. polycarpa'' (on ''

Bagliettoa ''Bagliettoa'' is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Verrucariaceae. The genus was circumscribed by Italian lichenologist Abramo Bartolommeo Massalongo in 1853. ''Bagliettoa'' species are endolithic An endolith or endolithic is ...

''). Only ''F. polycarpa'' has a truly lichenicolous mode of life; the others are facultatively lichenicolous, i.e., commonly collected from lichens but also known to grow on non-lichen substrates.

Species

Most ''Flavoplaca'' species occur in the Northern Hemisphere, and many are found in Europe. , Species Fungorum accepts 28 species of ''Flavoplaca'': *'' Flavoplaca arcis'' *'' Flavoplaca arcisproxima'' *'' Flavoplaca austrocitrina'' *'' Flavoplaca calcitrapa'' *'' Flavoplaca citrina'' *'' Flavoplaca communis'' *'' Flavoplaca confusa'' *'' Flavoplaca coronata'' *'' Flavoplaca cranfieldii'' *'' Flavoplaca dichroa'' *'' Flavoplaca flavocitrina'' *'' Flavoplaca geleverjae'' *'' Flavoplaca granulosa'' *''

Flavoplaca havaasii ''Flavoplaca'' is a genus of crust-like or scaly lichens in the family Teloschistaceae. It has 28 species with a mostly Northern Hemisphere distribution. Taxonomy The genus was circumscribed in 2013 by Ulf Arup, Patrik Frödén and Ulrik Søch ...

'' *'' Flavoplaca kantvilasii'' *'' Flavoplaca laszloana'' *'' Flavoplaca limonia'' *'' Flavoplaca lutea'' *'' Flavoplaca marina'' *'' Flavoplaca maritima'' *'' Flavoplaca mereschkowskiana'' *'' Flavoplaca microthallina'' *'' Flavoplaca navasiana'' *'' Flavoplaca nigromarina'' *'' Flavoplaca oasis'' *'' Flavoplaca ora'' *'' Flavoplaca polycarpa'' *'' Flavoplaca tavaresiana''

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q25520529 Flavoplaca Teloschistales genera Taxa described in 2013 Lichen genera Taxa named by Ulrik Søchting Taxa named by Patrik Frödén Taxa named by Ulf Arup