Theodore Lee Esslinger

{{Short description|American lichenologist}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2025}} {{Use American English|date=September 2025}}

'''Theodore Lee ("Ted") Esslinger''' (born 1944) is an American lichenologist and former professor of botany. He is best known for his systematic work on the brown {{lichengloss|parmelioid}} lichens and for developing online resources for lichen taxonomy.

==Career==

Esslinger studied at Eastern Washington University, the University of Idaho, and Duke University, where he completed his PhD in 1975 under William and Chicita Culberson. His dissertation, titled ''A Chemosystematic Revision of the Brown Parmeliae'', focused on the chemical and morphological variation within the group. After a postdoctoral year at the Smithsonian Institution with Mason Hale, he joined the faculty at North Dakota State University (NDSU) in Fargo, where he has taught botany since 1975.<ref name="Hertel et al. 2017"/> As of 2025, he is listed as an emeritus professor at NDSU.<ref name="NDSU Emeriti"/>

He has published extensively on the taxonomy of parmelioid lichens, the family Physciaceae, and the genus ''Oropogon''. From 1991 to 2006, he maintained the influential online bibliography ''Recent literature on lichens'', which compiled and indexed lichenological publications worldwide. He served as president of the American Bryological and Lichenological Society from 2007 to 2009.<ref name="Hertel et al. 2017"/>

==Recognition==

The fungal genus ''Esslingeriana'' was named in his honour,<ref name="Hertel 2012"/> as were the species ''Ocellularia esslingeri'' {{au|Hale (1978)}};<ref name="Hale 1978"/> ''Xanthoparmelia esslingeri'' {{au|O.Blanco, A.Crespo, Elix, D.Hawksw. & Lumbsch (2004)}};<ref name="Blanco et al. 2004"/> ''Phaeophyscia esslingeri'' {{au|S.Y.Kondr., Lőkös, J.J.Woo & Hur (2016)}};<ref name="Kondratyuk et al. 2016"/> and ''Peltigera esslingeri'' {{au|Magain, Miądl. & Sérus. (2023)}}.<ref name="Magain et al. 2023"/>

==Selected publications==

* {{cite journal |last=Esslinger |first=T.L. |year=1977 |title=A chemosystematic revision of the brown Parmeliae |journal=Journal of the Hattori Botanical Laboratory |volume=42 |pages=1–211 |doi=10.18968/jhbl.42.0_1 |doi-access=free}} * {{cite journal |last=Esslinger |first=Theodore L. |title=Typification of ''Oropogon loxensis'' and description of two related species |journal=The Bryologist |volume=83 |issue=4 |year=1980 |doi=10.2307/3242309 |page=529–532 |jstor=3242309}} * {{cite journal |last=Esslinger |first=Theodore L. |title=Systematics of ''Oropogon'' (Alectoriaceae) in the New World |journal=Systematic Botany Monographs |volume=28 |year=1989 |doi=10.2307/25027728 |page=1 |jstor=25027728}} * {{cite journal |last=Esslinger |first=Theodore L. |title=A cumulative checklist for the lichen-forming, lichenicolous and allied fungi of the Continental United States and Canada, version 24 |journal=Opuscula Philolichenum |volume=20 |year=2021 |doi=10.5962/p.388279 |doi-access=free |pages=100–394}}

==References== {{Reflist|colwidth=30em|refs=

<ref name="Blanco et al. 2004">{{cite journal |last1=Blanco |first1=Oscar |last2=Crespo |first2=Ana |last3=Elix |first3=John A. |last4=Hawksworth |first4=David L. |last5=Thorsten Lumbsch |first5=H. |title=A molecular phylogeny and a new classification of parmelioid lichens containing ''Xanthoparmelia''-type lichenan (Ascomycota: Lecanorales) |journal=Taxon |volume=53 |issue=4 |year=2004 |pages=959–975 |doi=10.2307/4135563 |jstor=4135563}}</ref>

<ref name="Hale 1978">{{cite journal |last=Hale |first=M.E. |year=1978 |title=A revision of the lichen family Thelotremataceae in Panama |journal=Smithsonian Contributions to Botany |volume=38 |pages=1–60 [20]}}</ref>

<ref name="Hertel 2012">{{cite book |author-link=Hannes Hertel |last1=Hertel |first1=Hannes |year=2012 |title=Gattungseponyme bei Flechten und Lichenicolen Pilzen |trans-title=Genus eponyms among lichens and lichenicolous fungi |series=Bibliotheca Lichenologica |volume=107 |publisher=J. Cramer |location=Stuttgart |isbn=978-3-443-58086-5 |page=114 |language=de}}</ref>

<ref name="Hertel et al. 2017">{{cite journal |first1=Hannes |last1=Hertel |first2=Georg |last2=Gärtner |first3=László |last3=Lőkös |title=Forscher an Österreichs Flechtenflora |trans-title=Investigators of Austria's lichen flora |journal=Stapfia |year=2017 |volume=104 |issue=2 |pages=1–211 [40] |language=German |url=https://www.zobodat.at/biografien/Flechtenforschung_Austria_STAPFIA_0104_2_0001-0211.pdf}}</ref>

<ref name="Kondratyuk et al. 2016">{{cite journal |last1=Kondratyuk |first1=S. Y. |last2=Lőkös |first2=L. |last3=Farkas |first3=E. |last4=Woo |first4=J.J. |last5=Hur |first5=J.S. |title=''Phaeophyscia esslingeri'' sp. nov. (Physciaceae, lichen-forming Ascomycota) – a new lichen species from Eastern Asia, with a world-wide key to the hairy species of the genus |journal=Studia Botanica Hungarica |volume=47 |issue=2 |year=2016 |doi=10.17110/studbot.2016.47.2.251 |pages=251–262 |url=http://real.mtak.hu/43908/1/04_Kondratyuk_et_al_01_u.pdf}}</ref>

<ref name="Magain et al. 2023">{{cite journal |first1=N. |last1=Magain |first2=J. |last2=Miadlikowska |first3=B. |last3=Goffinet |first4=T. |last4=Goward |first5=C.J. |last5=Pardo-De la Hoz |first6=I. |last6=Jüriado |first7=A. |last7=Simon |first8=J.A. |last8=Mercado-Díaz |first9=T. |last9=Barlow |first10=B. |last10=Moncada |first11=R. |last11=Lücking |first12=A. |last12=Spielmann |first13=L. |last13=Canez |first14=L.S. |last14=Wang |first15=P. |last15=Nelson |first16=T. |last16=Wheeler |first17=F. |last17=Lutzoni |first18=E. |last18=Sérusiaux |year=2023 |title=High species richness in the lichen genus ''Peltigera'' (Ascomycota, Lecanoromycetes): 34 species in the dolichorhizoid and scabrosoid clades of section Polydactylon, including 24 new to science |journal=Persoonia |volume=51 |pages=1–88 |doi=10.3767/persoonia.2023.51.01 |doi-access=free |pmid=38665978 |pmc=11041898}}</ref>

<ref name="NDSU Emeriti">{{cite web |title=Emeriti |website=Department of Biological Sciences |publisher=North Dakota State University |url=https://www.ndsu.edu/biology/people/emeriti |access-date=September 14, 2025}}</ref>

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Esslinger, Theodore Lee}} Category:1944 births Category:American lichenologists Category:Eastern Washington University alumni Category:University of Idaho alumni Category:Duke University alumni Category:North Dakota State University faculty Category:Living people