Peltularia
genus of fungi
Peltularia is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Coccocarpiaceae. The genus was circumscribed by the Swedish lichenologist Rolf Santesson in 1944, with Peltularia gyrophoroides from Patagonia as the type species. Its four known species are found in southern South America and on subantarctic islands, where they grow on rock in exposed, wind-swept habitats. The photosynthetic partner is a cyanobacterium, and the thallus is leafy and attached to the rock by disc-like holdfasts.
Taxonomy
The genus was circumscribed by the Swedish lichenologist Rolf Santesson in 1944, with Peltularia gyrophoroides designated as the type and only species. The type was collected from Patagonia (southern South America). In 1984, Per Magnus Jørgensen and David James Galloway described Peltularia crassa from subantarctic Campbell Island and reported it also from Macquarie Island, after studying material that was mostly sterile and difficult to place on thallus characteristics alone. They noted that the species had previously been mentioned only briefly (as Erioderma in a key to the lichen genera of Macquarie Island), but young apothecia in the type material showed that it belonged in Peltularia. Comparing P. crassa with P. gyrophoroides, they concluded that the two share similar apothecial structure and development, supporting their placement in the same genus. Peltularia fuegiana and Peltularia austroshetlandica were added to the genus in 2001 and 2005, respectively.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Peltularia” is genus of fungi. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Peltularia, genus and fungi, not as a finished interpretation.
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The phrase “genus of fungi” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7161779. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1944, 1984, 2001 and 2005.
Scientific names, classifications and consensus can change while older terminology persists in catalogues and historical literature. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Peltularia” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.