''Psoronactis'' is a

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

fungal

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 ...

in the family Roccellaceae. It contains the single species ''Psoronactis dilleniana'', a saxicolous (rock-dwelling),

crustose lichen Crustose lichens are lichens that form a crust which strongly adheres to the Substrate (biology), substrate (soil, rock, tree bark, etc.), making separation from the substrate impossible without destruction. The basic structure of crustose lichen ...

. This species was first described in 1799 by Swedish lichenologist Erik Acharius as ''Lichen dillenianus''. The

taxon In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular nam ...

was shuffled to several genera in the 1800s as different authors had different opinions on how to classify the species; in more modern times, it was transferred to genus ''

Lecanographa ''Lecanographa'' is a genus of about 40 species of lichens in the family Lecanographaceae. It was circumscribed in 1994 by José M. Egea and Pilar Torrente, with ''Lecanographa lyncea'' as the type species. Species *'' Lecanographa abscondita'' ...

'' in 2013. ''Psoronactis'' 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 2014 by Damien Ernst and Anders Tehler, following

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 and revision of the Roccellaceae that showed the species occupied a distinct

lineage Lineage may refer to: Science * Lineage (anthropology), a group that can demonstrate its common descent from an apical ancestor or a direct line of descent from an ancestor * Lineage (evolution), a temporal sequence of individuals, populati ...

in the family. The genus name alludes to the lichen products present in its

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 ...

psoromic acid Psoromic acid is a β-orcinol depsidone with the molecular formula C18H14O8. Psoromic acid inhibits herpes simplex viruses type 1 and type 2. Furthermore, it inhibits the RabGGTase. Psoromic acid occurs in antarctic lichens A lichen ( , ) ...

and 2'-''O''-demethylpsoromic acid. It is these compounds that differentiate it chemically from the similar genus '' Lecanactis''.

References

Roccellaceae Lichen genera Taxa described in 2014 Arthoniomycetes genera Taxa named by Damien Ertz Taxa named by Anders Tehler {{Arthoniomycetes-stub