{{Short description|Genus of lichens}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2025}} {{Use Oxford spelling|date=September 2025}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = | taxon = Brianaria | authority = S.Ekman & M.Svensson (2014) | type_species = ''Brianaria sylvicola'' | type_species_authority = (Flot. ex Körb.) S.Ekman & M.Svenss. (2014) | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = ''B. bauschiana''<br> ''B. lutulata''<br> ''B. sylvicola''<br> ''B. tuberculata'' }}
'''''Brianaria''''' is a lichen genus in the family Psoraceae.<ref name="CoL_3D67"/> It was circumscribed in 2014 by Stefan Ekman and Måns Svensson to contain four closely related species formerly in the ''Micarea sylvicola'' group.
==Taxonomy==
''Brianaria'' was introduced in 2014 to accommodate the long-recognised "''Micarea sylvicola'' group", whose species proved—by DNA analyses and shared anatomical traits—to fall outside ''Micarea'' in the strict sense. The authors recombined four former ''Micarea'' species as ''Brianaria''. The genus name honours Brian John Coppins for his work on crustose lichens. In phylogenetic studies ''Brianaria'' forms a single, well-supported lineage within the family Psoraceae and is probably the sister group to ''Psora'' and ''Protoblastenia'', rather than part of the Ectolechiaceae where ''Micarea'' sits.<ref name="Ekman & Svensson 2014"/>
The separation of the genera rests on clear diagnostic {{lichengloss|characters}}. ''Brianaria'' has a green-algal partner ({{lichengloss|photobiont}}) that is not the {{lichengloss|micareoid}} type typical of ''Micarea''; its tiny, convex fruiting discs (apothecia) lack a distinct rim (no {{lichengloss|excipulum}}); the spore sacs (asci) are of the ''Psora''-type with a broad, dark "tube" that widens towards the tip; the accessory filaments in the hymenium ({{lichengloss|paraphyses}}) occur in two forms (dimorphic); the sexual spores are 0–1-septate; and the asexual reproductive structures (pycnidia) are sunk in the thallus and produce short, rod-shaped conidia. Taken together, these features set ''Brianaria'' apart from ''Micarea'' in the strict sense, from ''Psora'' (which is squamulose in form and chemically different), and from ''Protoblastenia'' (which has anthraquinone pigments and a developed rim).<ref name="Ekman & Svensson 2014"/>
Nomenclaturally, the type species traces back to ''Lecidea sylvicola'', validated by Gustav Wilhelm Körber in 1855 (after an invalid mention by Julius von Flotow in 1829),<ref name="Körber 1855"/> later placed in ''Micarea'',<ref name="Vězda & Wirth 1976"/> and finally transferred to ''Brianaria'' when the genus was erected.<ref name="Ekman & Svensson 2014"/>
==Description==
Characteristics of the genus ''Brianaria'' include the small, convex apothecia that lack an excipulum; an ascus of the "Psora"-type; 0–1-septate ascospores, dimorphic paraphyses, and immersed pycnidia that contain bacilliform conidia. The photobiont is chlorococcoid, and non-micareoid.<ref name="Ekman & Svensson 2014"/>
==Species== *''Brianaria bauschiana'' {{au|(Körb.) S.Ekman & M.Svenss. (2014)}} *''Brianaria lutulata'' {{au|(Nyl.) S.Ekman & M.Svenss. (2014)}} *''Brianaria sylvicola'' {{au|(Flot. ex Körb.) S.Ekman & M.Svenss. (2014)}} *''Brianaria tuberculata'' {{au|(Sommerf.) S.Ekman & M.Svenss. (2014)}}
==References== {{Reflist|refs=
<ref name="CoL_3D67">{{Catalogue of Life |id=3D67 |title=''Brianaria'' |access-date=17 September 2025}}</ref>
<ref name="Ekman & Svensson 2014">{{cite journal |last1=Ekman |first1=Stefan |last2=Svensson |first2=Måns |title=''Brianaria'' (Psoraceae), a new genus to accommodate the ''Micarea sylvicola'' group |journal=The Lichenologist |volume=46 |issue=3 |year=2014 |pages=285–294 |doi=10.1017/S0024282913000613 |bibcode=2014ThLic..46..285E }}</ref>
<ref name="Körber 1855">{{cite book |last=Körber |first=G.W. |year=1855 |title=Systema lichenum Germaniae |page=254 |language=de}}</ref>
<ref name="Vězda & Wirth 1976">{{cite journal |last1=Vězda |first1=A. |last2=Wirth |first2=V. |year=1976 |title=Zur Taxonomie der Flechtengattung ''Micarea'' Fr. em. Hedl. |journal=Folia Geobotanica et Phytotaxonomica |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=93–102 |doi=10.1007/BF02853320 |language=de}}</ref>
}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q22106623}} Category:Lecanorales Category:Lichen genera Category:Lecanorales genera Category:Taxa described in 2014 Category:Taxa named by Stefan Ekman