Lepraria Explained
Lepraria is a genus of leprose crustose lichens that grows on its substrate like patches of granular, caked up, mealy dust grains.[1] Members of the genus are commonly called dust lichens.[2] [3] [4] The main vegetative body (thallus) is made of patches of soredia (little balls of algae wrapped in fungus).[2] There are no known mechanisms for sexual reproduction, yet members of the genus continue to speciate.[1] [2] Some species can form marginal lobes and appear squamulose.[2] Because of the morphological simplicity of the thallus and the absence of sexual structures, the composition of lichen products (i.e., secondary metabolites made by lichens) are important characters to distinguish between similar species in Lepraria.
Taxonomy
Lepraria was circumscribed in 1803 by Swedish lichenologist Erik Acharius. Jack Laundon assigned Lepraria incana as the type species of the genus in 1992. It is in the family Stereocaulaceae.[5]
Species
- Lepraria achariana – South America
- Lepraria alba
- Lepraria albicans
- Lepraria alpina
- Lepraria alternata – Australia
- Lepraria arbuscula
- Lepraria atlantica
- Lepraria atrotomentosa
- Lepraria aurescens – Thailand
- Lepraria barbatica
- Lepraria bergensis
- Lepraria borealis
- Lepraria brasiliensis
- Lepraria brodoi – North America
- Lepraria cacuminum
- Lepraria caesiella
- Lepraria caesioalba
- Lepraria celata
- Lepraria chileana – Chile
- Lepraria congesta
- Lepraria crassissima
- Lepraria cryophila
- Lepraria cryptovouauxii
- Lepraria cupressicola
- Lepraria dibenzofuranica – Australia
- Lepraria diffusa
- Lepraria disjuncta
- Lepraria ecorticata
- Lepraria elobata
- Lepraria friabilis
- Lepraria gelida
- Lepraria glaucosorediata
- Lepraria goughensis
- Lepraria gracilescens
- Lepraria granulata – Eastern and Central Europe
- Lepraria granulosa
- Lepraria harrisiana
- Lepraria hodkinsoniana
- Lepraria humida
- Lepraria impossibilis
- Lepraria incana
- Lepraria indica – India
- Lepraria isidiata
- Lepraria jackii
- Lepraria juanfernandezii
- Lepraria lanata
- Lepraria larrainiana – Chile
- Lepraria lecanorica
- Lepraria lendemeri
- Lepraria leuckertiana
- Lepraria lobata – Australia
- Lepraria lobificans
- Lepraria maderensis
- Lepraria malouina – Falkland Islands
- Lepraria membranacea
- Lepraria methylbarbatica
- Lepraria multiacida
- Lepraria neojackii
- Lepraria neozelandica – New Zealand
- Lepraria nigrocincta
- Lepraria nivalis
- Lepraria normandinoides
- Lepraria nothofagi
- Lepraria nylanderiana
- Lepraria ohmiensis
- Lepraria oxybapha
- Lepraria pacifica
- Lepraria pallida
- Lepraria pseudoarbuscula
- Lepraria pulchra
- Lepraria rigidula
- Lepraria salazinica
- Lepraria santosii
- Lepraria sekikaica
- Lepraria sipmaniana
- Lepraria squamatica
- Lepraria stephaniana
- Lepraria subalbicans
- Lepraria sulphurella
- Lepraria svalbardensis
- Lepraria sylvicola
- Lepraria tenella
- Lepraria toilenae
- Lepraria torii
- Lepraria umbricola
- Lepraria ulrikii – Australasia
- Lepraria vouauxii
- Lepraria xanthonica
- Lepraria xerophila
- Lepraria zeorinica
Notes and References
- A taxonomic revision of the North American species of Lepraria s.l. that produce divaricatic acid, with notes on the type species of the genus L. incana, James C. Lendemer, Mycologia 103(6): 1216-1229, http://www.mycologia.org/content/103/6/1216.full
- Field Guide to California Lichens, Stephen Sharnoff, Yale University Press, 2014,
- http://eol.org/pages/36839/overview Dust Lichen (Lepraria), Encyclopedia of Life
- http://plants.usda.gov/java/nameSearch USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Name Search
- Book: Sharnoff S, Brodo IM, Sharnoff SD . Lichens of North America . Yale University Press . New Haven, Connecticut . 2001 . 0-300-08249-5.
