Genus of lichens
Athallia is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Teloschistaceae.[1] It was circumscribed in 2013 by Ulf Arup, Patrik Frödén, and Ulrik Søchting,[1][2] and the type species is Athallia holocarpa.[3][2] The genus name means "without a thallus".[2]
Description
Most species in Athallia have a poorly developed thallus, with the exception of A. scopularis. In A. scopularis, the thallus is well-developed and lobate, meaning it has a lobed structure. The cortex, which is the outer layer of the thallus, is typically an amorphous layer or made up of indistinctly organized tissue (indistinctly paraplectenchymatous), a tissue structure previously referred to as "alveolate" by Vondrák et al. in 2009.[4] In A. scopularis, however, the cortex consists of hyphae (fungal filaments) that are arranged anticlinally, meaning they run perpendicular to the surface.[5]
Athallia vitellinula is atypical in the genus for having a conspicuous thallus, but it is usually very thin. The apothecia (fruiting bodies) in Athallia are mainly zeorine, which means they lack a thalline margin. The spores produced are polardiblastic, meaning they are divided into two components (locules) separated by a central septum with a perforation. Pycnidia, which are small, flask-shaped structures producing asexual spores (conidia), are typically orange in Athallia, but they are often absent. The conidia, when present, are ellipsoid in shape.[5]
All Athallia lichens have a suite of secondary metabolites (lichen products) corresponding to the chemosyndrome A as previously elaborated by Søchting.[6]
Species
As of January 2024[update], Species Fungorum (in the Catalogue of Life) accept 11 species of Athallia:[7]
Gallery
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A. scopularis
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A. cerinelloides
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A. holocarpa
References
