''Xanthocarpia crenulatella'' is a species of 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 ...

in the family

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 ...

Taxonomy

The species was first formally described by William Nylander in 1886, as a member of genus ''

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 ...

''. Henri Olivier transferred it to the genus ''

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 ...

'' in 1909, and it was generally known as this name for more than a century. In 2013, Arup and colleagues transferred 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 ...

to genus ''

Xanthocarpia ''Xanthocarpia'' is a genus of mostly crustose lichens in the family Teloschistaceae. It has 12 species with a largely Northern Hemisphere distribution. Taxonomy The genus was originally circumscription (taxonomy), circumscribed in 1859 by Abra ...

'' based on a

molecular phylogenetics 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 ...

-led restructuring of the family Teloschistaceae. Jan Vondrák and colleagues have suggested that ''Xanthocarpia crenulatella'' may represent an assemblage of

microspecies In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

, "because it is phenotypically quite heterogenous and other species have been described within it", listing '' X. borysthenica'' and '' X. feracissima'' as specific examples of members of this species complex.

References

Teloschistales Lichen species Lichens described in 1886 Taxa named by William Nylander (botanist) Lichens of Europe Lichens of North America {{Teloschistales-stub