''Parmotrema'' 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
lichen
A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.[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'' ( ...]
.
It is a large genus, containing an estimated 300 species,
with a centre of diversity in
subtropical
The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Geographical z ...
regions of South America and the
Pacific Islands
Collectively called the Pacific Islands, the islands in the Pacific Ocean are further categorized into three major island groups: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Depending on the context, the term ''Pacific Islands'' may refer to one of se ...
.
Members of the genus are
commonly called ruffle lichens or scatter-rag lichens.
[Field Guide to California Lichens, Stephen Sharnoff, Yale University Press, 2014, ]
Description
''Parmotrema'' is characterized by its typically large, moderately to loosely-attached
foliose
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 ...
thallus with broad lobes that are usually more than 5 mm wide. There is a broad, naked zone around the margin of the lower surface, an epicortex with pores and an upper
cortex
Cortex or cortical may refer to:
Biology
* Cortex (anatomy), the outermost layer of an organ
** Cerebral cortex, the outer layer of the vertebrate cerebrum, part of which is the ''forebrain''
*** Motor cortex, the regions of the cerebral cortex i ...
with a palisade-
plectenchyma
Plectenchyma (from Greek πλέκω ''pleko'' 'I weave' and ἔγχυμα ''enchyma'' 'infusion', i.e., 'a woven tissue') is the general term employed to designate all types of fungal tissues.
The two most common types of tissues are prosenchyma ...
tous arrangement of
hyphae.
Ascospore
An ascus (; ) is the sexual spore-bearing cell produced in ascomycete fungi. Each ascus usually contains eight ascospores (or octad), produced by meiosis followed, in most species, by a mitotic cell division. However, asci in some genera or ...
s are thick-walled and
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 ...
.
Taxonomy
The genus was proposed as a genus by Italian lichenologist
Abramo Bartolommeo Massalongo
Abramo Bartolommeo Massalongo (13 May 1824 – 25 May 1860) was an Italian paleobotanist and lichenologist. He was born in Tregnago in the Province of Verona and took a great interest in botany as a young man. Massalongo joined the faculty of me ...
in 1860, with ''
Parmotrema perforatum'' 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 name, composed of the
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
''parmos'' (cup) and ''trema'' (perforation), refers to the perforate
apothecia
An ascocarp, or ascoma (), is the fruiting body ( sporocarp) of an ascomycete phylum fungus. It consists of very tightly interwoven hyphae and millions of embedded asci, each of which typically contains four to eight ascospores. Ascocarps are mos ...
. ''Parmotrema'' was largely ignored as a genus,
and its species were usually grouped in
section
Section, Sectioning or Sectioned may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea
* Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents
** Section sig ...
''Amphigymnia'' of the large genus ''
Parmelia Parmelia may refer to:
* Parmelia (barque), the vessel that in 1829 transported the first settlers of the British colony of Western Australia
* ''Parmelia'' (fungus), a genus of lichens with global distribution
* Parmelia, Western Australia
Pa ...
''.
Several genera previously segregated from ''Parmotrema'' have since been folded back in owing to
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 ...
evidence, including ''Canomaculina'', ''Concamerella'', ''Parmelaria'', and ''Rimelia''.
Gallery
Image:Parmotrema_tinctorum_umenokigoke01.jpg, ''Parmotrema tinctorum
''Parmotrema tinctorum'' is a lichen which belongs to the ''Parmotrema
''Parmotrema'' is a genus of lichen belonging to the family Parmeliaceae. It is a large genus, containing an estimated 300 species, with a centre of diversity in subtrop ...
''
File:Powdered Ruffle Lichen (982620239).jpg, '' Parmotrema chinense''
See also
*
List of ''Parmotrema'' species
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q10620680
Lecanorales genera
Lichen genera
Taxa named by Abramo Bartolommeo Massalongo