Gondwania Explained

Gondwania is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the subfamily Xanthorioideae of the family Teloschistaceae. It has five species.

Taxonomy

The genus was circumscribed by lichenologists Ulrik Søchting, Patrik Frödén, and Ulf Arup. The type species is G. cribrosa, a species that was first named Polycauliona cribrosa by Auguste-Marie Hue in 1909. The genus name refers to the ancestral supercontinent Gondwana.

Description

Gondwania species grow on rock, and have a variety of forms:, somewhat fruticose, or crustose. Species contain lichen products characteristic of  A. Cerothallis and Austroplaca are closely related genera in the Teloschistaceae. Gondwania has a Southern Hemisphere distribution, occurring in the Antarctic, southern Australia, New Zealand, and Patagonia.

Species

The proposed taxon Gondwania regalis has since been transferred to a different genus and is now known as Polycauliona regalis.