''Gyalectales'' is an order of lichen-forming

fungi A fungus ( : fungi 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 a kingdom, separately from ...

in the class

Lecanoromycetes Lecanoromycetes is the largest class of lichenized fungi. It belongs to the subphylum Pezizomycotina in the phylum Ascomycota. The asci (spore-bearing cells) of the Lecanoromycetes most often release spores by rostrate dehiscence. Genera of unc ...

. It contains 5

families Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Ideal ...

, 15 genera and about 550 species.

Taxonomy

The Gyalectales were introduced in a 1974 publication by

Aino Henssen Aino Marjatta Henssen (12 April 1925, Elberfeld – 29 August 2011, Marburg), was a German lichenologist and systematist. Her father, Gottfried Henssen, was a folklorist and her mother was Finns, Finnish. Education and career Henssen began her stu ...

and Martin Jahns, but not formally published until 1986 by David Hawksworth and Ove Eriksson.

Phylogeny

An early (2002)

phylogenetics In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups ...

study showed that the order Ostropales, as was then

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 ...

, was paraphyletic, and proposed that the Ostropales

sensu lato ''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular c ...

included the Gyalectales and Trapeliaceae. Although they had traditionally been considered to be only distantly related, molecular studies suggested a much closer phylogenetic relationship. As a result, of the molecular data, Kauff and Lutzoni subsumed the Gyalectales into the Ostropales, as the latter name was published earlier (1932 vs. 1986). In 2018, Kraichak and colleagues used a recently developed "temporal phylogenetic" approach to identify temporal bands for specific taxonomic ranks. Based on this approach, clades that share a common ancestor between 176 and 194 Mya and a time window of 111–135 Mya correspond to order-level and family-level, respectively. The Gyalectales clade, consisting of the families Trichotheliaceae, Coenogoniaceae, Sagiolechiaceae, Gyalectaceae and Phlyctidaceae, has a

crown A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...

node that falls within the temporal band for orders. For this reason the name Gyalectales was resurrected to represent the monophyletic clade. Gyalectales itself is placed in Ostropomycetidae, one of two major subclasses in the

. This proposed classification has been accepted in a later review of the temporal banding method for fungus systematics, as well a 2020 update on ascomycete classification.

Families and genera

This is a list of the families and genera contained within the Gyalectales, based on a 2020 review and summary of ascomycete classification. Following the taxon name is the

taxonomic authority In biology, taxonomy () is the scientific study of naming, defining ( circumscribing) and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped into taxa (singular: taxon) and these groups are given ...

, year of publication, and (for genera) the number of species: * Coenogoniaceae ::'' Coenogonium'' – ca. 91 spp. * Gyalectaceae ::'' Gyalecta'' – 50 spp. ::'' Ramonia'' – 24 spp. ::'' Semigyalecta'' – 1 sp. * Phlyctidaceae ::'' Phlyctis'' – 20 spp. ::'' Psathyrophlyctis'' – 1 sp. * Sagiolechiaceae ::'' Rhexophiale'' – 1 sp. ::'' Sagiolechia'' – 3 spp. * Trichotheliaceae ::'' Clathroporina'' – ca. 25 spp. ::'' Myeloconis'' – 4 spp. ::'' Porina'' – ca. 145 spp. ::'' Pseudosagedia'' – 80 spp. ::'' Segestria'' – 70 spp. ::'' Trichothelium'' – 40 spp.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5623940 Gyalectales Ascomycota orders Taxa described in 1986 Taxa named by David Leslie Hawksworth