Cladia is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Cladoniaceae. Cladia species have a crustose or squamulose (scaly) primary thallus and a fruticose, secondary thallus, often referred to as pseudopodetium. The type species of the genus, Cladia aggregata, is widely distributed, occurring in South America, South Africa, Australasia and South-East Asia to southern Japan and India. Most of the other species are found in the Southern Hemisphere.
Molecular phylogenetic evidence showed that the genera Heterodea and Ramalinora were nested within Cladina,[7][8] so they are now synonyms. Because the name Heterodea predated Cladina, the generic name Cladia was proposed for conservation against Heterodea to avoid several nomenclatural changes that would have been necessary.[9][10] The proposal was accepted by both the Nomenclature Committee for Fungi and the General Committee.[11][12]
Description
Cladia consists of fruticose lichens with typically a perforate pseudopodetia with an external cartilaginous layer. The apothecia are black or brown and have a persistent proper margin and a flat disc. The asci are eight-spored with a well-developed amyloid tholus with a darker-staining central tube. The pycnidia are immersed in grossly black to brown projections that are initially blunt and measure up to 0.5 mm long and eventually become needle-like and up to 1 mm long.[13]
Revisions of Cladia published in 2012 and 2013 included 23 species in the genus.[18][19] As of December 2023[update], Species Fungorum accepts 20 species in Cladia:[20]
^Lumbsch, H.T.; Rambold, G.; Elix, J.A. (1995). "Ramalinora (Ramalinaceae) – a new lichen genus from Australia". Australian Systematic Botany. 8 (3): 521–530. doi:10.1071/SB9950521.
^Nylander, William (1870). Recognitio Monographica Ramalinarum (in French). Caen: Impr. de P. Le Blanc-Hardel. p. 69.
^Filson, R.B. (1981). "A revision of the lichen genus Cladia Nyl". Journal of the Hattori Botanical Laboratory. 49: 1–75.
^Stenroos, Soili; Pino‐Bodas, Raquel; Hyvönen, Jaakko; Lumbsch, Helge Thorsten; Ahti, Teuvo (2018). "Phylogeny of the family Cladoniaceae (Lecanoromycetes, Ascomycota) based on sequences of multiple loci". Cladistics. 35 (4): 351–384. doi:10.1111/cla.12363. hdl:10261/247495. PMID34633698. S2CID92664622.
^Lumbsch, H. Thorsten; Parnmen, Sittiporn; Rangsiruji, Achariya; Elix, J. (2010). "Phenotypic disparity and adaptive radiation in the genus Cladia (Lecanorales, Ascomycota)". Australian Systematic Botany. 23 (4): 239–247. doi:10.1071/SB10010.
^Parnmen, Sittiporm; Rangsiruji, Achariya; Mongkolsuk, Pachara; Boonpragob, Kansri; Elix, John A.; Lumbsch, H. Thorsten (2010). "Morphological disparity in Cladoniaceae: The foliose genus Heterodea evolved from fruticose Cladia species (Lecanorales, lichenized Ascomycota)". Taxon. 59 (3): 841–849. doi:10.1002/tax.593013.
^Zhurbenko, Mikhail P.; Pino-Bodas, Raquel (2015). "New lichenicolous fungi growing on Cladia in New Zealand". The Lichenologist. 47 (6): 395–402. doi:10.1017/S002428291500033X. S2CID90225005.
^ abAhti, Teuvo (2000). "Cladoniaceae". Flora Neotropica. Flora Neotropica Monograph. 78. New York Botanical Garden Press: 1–362. JSTOR4393890.
^Parnmen, Sittiporn; Leavitt, Steven D.; Rangsiruji, Achariya; Lumbsch, H. Thorsten (2013). "Identification of species in the Cladia aggregata group using DNA barcoding (Ascomycota: Lecanorales)". Phytotaxa. 115 (1): 1. doi:10.11646/phytotaxa.115.1.1.