# Culbersonia

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{{Short description|Lichen genus in the family Caliciaceae}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| image =
| image_caption =
| status = G4
| status_system = TNC
| status_ref = <ref name=NS>{{cite NatureServe |id=2.637047 |title=''Culbersonia nubila'' |access-date=9 September 2025}}</ref>
| taxon = Culbersonia
| authority = [Essl.](/source/Essl.) (2000)
| type_species = '''''Culbersonia nubila'''''
| type_species_authority = Essl. (2000)
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivisions =
}}

'''''Culbersonia''''' is a fungal [genus](/source/genus) in the family [Caliciaceae](/source/Caliciaceae). This is a [monotypic](/source/monotypic) genus, containing the single [foliose lichen](/source/foliose_lichen) '''''Culbersonia nubila''''' (formerly called '''''Culbersonia americana'''''). This species, which grows on trees and rocks, is found in dry [subtropical](/source/subtropical) regions of the world, particularly in Africa and Central America.

==Taxonomy==
The genus ''Culbersonia'' was [circumscribed](/source/circumscription_(taxonomy)) by [Ted Esslinger](/source/Ted_Esslinger) in 2000, to contain a lichen he collected from [Arizona](/source/Arizona) that he named ''Culbersonia americana''.<ref name="Esslinger 2000"/> 

The genus name of ''Culbersonia'' is in honour of [Chicita Frances 'Nan' Culberson](/source/Chicita_F._Culberson), (b.1931), an American botanist (Mycology und
Lichenology), who worked as a botanical researcher at [Duke University](/source/Duke_University) in Durham/North Carolina and [William Louis "Bill" Culberson](/source/William_Louis_Culberson) (1929–2003), an American lichenologist. As they were "longtime friends and mentors" of Esslinger.<ref>{{cite book | last=Burkhardt | first=Lotte | title=Eine Enzyklopädie zu eponymischen Pflanzennamen |trans-title=Encyclopedia of eponymic plant names | publisher=Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum, Freie Universität Berlin | year=2022 | isbn=978-3-946292-41-8 | url=https://doi.org/10.3372/epolist2022|format=pdf |language=German |location=Berlin | doi=10.3372/epolist2022 | s2cid=246307410 |access-date=January 27, 2022}}</ref>

After ''Culbersonia americana'' was published, it was determined that the Arizona species was the same as one previously described from Africa in 1980 by [Roland Moberg](/source/Roland_Moberg), called ''Pyxine nubila''.<ref name="Moberg 1980"/> A [new combination](/source/new_combination) was made in a 2002 publication, and the name ''Culbersonia nubila'' was proposed.<ref name="Nash et al. 2002"/>

''Culbersonia'' was until recently thought to belong to the [Physciaceae](/source/Physciaceae) due to [morphological](/source/morphology_(biology)) similarities with some of the genera in that family. Recent (2019) [molecular phylogenetic](/source/molecular_phylogenetic) analysis showed that it forms a [monophyletic](/source/monophyletic) [clade](/source/clade) with ''[Pyxine](/source/Pyxine)'' and ''[Diplotomma](/source/Diplotomma)'', both of which are in the Caliciaceae. These three genera are morphologically distinguished from the other Caliciaceae by the appressed [foliose](/source/foliose_lichen) growth form and the absence of a mazaedium (a fruit body consisting of a powdery mass of free [ascospore](/source/ascospore)s).<ref name="Aptroot et al. 2019"/>

==Habitat and distribution==
''Culbersonia nubila'' grows on trees and rocks. It is found in dry [subtropical](/source/subtropical) regions of the world, particularly in Africa and Central America.<ref name="Aptroot et al. 2019"/>

==References==
{{Reflist|refs=

<ref name="Aptroot et al. 2019">{{cite journal |author-link1=André Aptroot |last1=Aptroot |first1=André |last2=Maphangwa |first2=Khumbudzo Walter |last3=Zedda |first3=Luciana |last4=Tekere |first4=Memory |last5=Alvarado |first5=Pablo |last6=Sipman |first6=Harrie J. M. |title=The phylogenetic position of ''Culbersonia'' is in the Caliciaceae (lichenized ascomycetes) |journal=The Lichenologist |volume=51 |issue=2 |year=2019 |pages=187–191 |doi=10.1017/S0024282919000033|s2cid=150264979 }}</ref>

<ref name="Esslinger 2000">{{cite journal |last1=Esslinger |first1=Theodore L. |title=''Culbersonia americana'', a rare new lichen (Ascomycota) from Western America |journal=The Bryologist |volume=103 |issue=4 |year=2000 |pages=771–773 |doi=10.1639/0007-2745(2000)103[0771:CAARNL]2.0.CO;2|s2cid=86045065 }}</ref>

<ref name="Moberg 1980">{{cite journal |last1=Moberg |first1=R. |year=1980 |title=Studies on Physciaceae (Lichens) 1. A new species of ''Pyxine'' |journal=Norwegian Journal of Botany |volume=27 |pages=189–191}}</ref>

<ref name="Nash et al. 2002">{{cite book |author-link1=Thomas H. Nash |editor-last1=Nash |editor-first1=T. H. III |editor-last2=Ryan |editor-first2=B. D. |editor-last3=Gries |editor-first3=C. |editor-last4=Bungartz |editor-first4=F. |year=2002 |title=Lichen Flora of the Greater Sonoran Desert Region |volume=1 |location=Tempe, Arizona |publisher=Lichens Unlimited, Arizona State University}}</ref>

}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q5192859|from2=Q10463446}}

Category:Caliciales
Category:Lichen genera
Category:Caliciales genera
Category:Taxa described in 2000
Category:Taxa named by Theodore Lee Esslinger

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Culbersonia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culbersonia) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culbersonia?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.