Gyalideopsis buckii
Gyalideopsis buckii is a species of bark-dwelling lichen in the family Gomphillaceae. It is found in the United States. Taxonomy. The lichen was originally described by botanist William Russell Buck in 1980, as "Tricharia vezdae", based on specimens collected from the southeastern United States. The type specimen was collected in Natchez Trace State Park, Tennessee, where it was found growing on the branches of a shrub (possibly "Vaccinium arboreum") in an area that was dry and sandy. In 2005, lichenologists Robert Lücking, Emmanuël Sérusiaux, and Antonín Vězda reorganized the systematics of the family Gomphillaceae with cladistic analysis . As part of this reorganization, "Tricharia vezdae" was to be transferred to the genus "Gyalideopsis", but the name "Gyalideopsis vezdae" was already in use for another species. A new name was given to the taxon, with the specific epithet "buckii" honoring the original describer. The lichen has been previously noted by Vězda as a probable member of "Tricharia", but he found a sterile specimen (without ascospores or apothecial structures) and was unable to describe it as a new species without this information. Buck's original epithet for the species, "vezdae", acknowledges Vězda's original work with the species. Description. The  main characteristics of "Gyalideopsis buckii" are its growth on bark (many "Gyalideopsis" lichens instead grow on leaves), the few sterile hairs it has, and the distinctive structure of its hyphophores (erect stalked asexual sporophores). Its ascospores are ovoid to muriform (mouse-shaped), and measure 23–28 μm long by about 15 μm wide.