''Flavopunctelia flaventior'' is a species of

foliose lichen Foliose lichen is one of the morphological classes of lichens, which are complex organisms that arise from the symbiotic relationship between fungi and a photosynthetic partner, typically algae. This partnership allows lichen to live in diverse ...

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'' ( 822 ...

. It was first formally described as a new species by

James Stirton James Stirton (1833, Coupar Angus, Perthshire – 14 January 1917, Glasgow) was a Scottish physician and one of Scotland's leading experts on cryptogamic botany. His investigations in bryology and lichenology earned him a world-wide reputation. B ...

in 1877 as ''Parmelia flaventior''. In 1982, Hildur Krog transferred it to the subgenus ''Flavopunctelia'' of her newly

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 ...

genus ''

Punctelia ''Punctelia'' is a genus of foliose lichens belonging to the large family Parmeliaceae. The genus, which contains about 50 species, was segregated from genus ''Parmelia'' in 1982. Characteristics that define ''Punctelia'' include the presence of ...

'', created to contain '' Parmelia'' species with punctate (point-like)

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 t ...

Mason Hale Mason Ellsworth Hale, Jr. (September 23, 1929 – April 23, 1990) was one of the most prolific lichenologists of the 20th century. Many of his scholarly articles focused on the taxonomy of the family Parmeliaceae. Hale was one of the first liche ...

raised this subgenus to generic status a couple of years later, setting ''Flavopunctelia flaventior'' 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 ...

of the new genus. The lichen is commonly known as the speckled greenshield. ''Flavopunctelia flaventior'' occurs in Asia, Europe, East Africa, North America, and South America.

References

flaventior Lichen species Lichens described in 1877 Lichens of Africa Lichens of Asia Lichens of Europe Lichens of North America Lichens of South America Taxa named by James Stirton {{Parmeliaceae-stub