Fuscideaceae

Fuscideaceae is a family of fungi that form symbiotic relationships with algae to create lichens. These lichens typically have a crust-like appearance and are found worldwide, though they are most common in temperate regions. The family includes four genera and about 45 species, which primarily grow on tree bark, rocks, or occasionally on wood or leaves. Fuscideaceae lichens are characterised by their reproductive structures, cup-like formations called apothecia, which can vary in colour from red to dark brown or black. The family has undergone several changes in its classification over the years, with recent genetic studies placing it within the order Umbilicariales. Fuscideaceae lichens produce various chemical compounds (lichen products), some of which are unique to this family, and these chemicals are often used to help identify different species.

==Systematics== ===Taxonomy=== The family was circumscribed by the lichenologist Josef Hafellner in 1984. He included the type genus, Fuscidea, and Maronea in his original conception of the family. He considered Maronea as sort of a version of Fuscidea with apothecia and multi-spored asci. In his Outline of the Ascomycota series (2006), Ove Eriksson included the genus Hueidea in Fuscideaceae based on its Fuscidea-type asci as the diagnostic character. Both Loxospora and Sarrameana had been proposed for inclusion in the Fuscideaceae, but they are now both placed in a new family, the Sarrameanaceae. Ulrik Søchting and colleagues demonstrated with molecular data that Hueidea belongs in the Teloschistaceae (subfamily Caloplacoideae) and is congeneric with the Antarctic genus Huea; the Nomenclature Committee for Fungi has therefore recommended rejection of Huea, leaving Hueidea in Teloschistaceae and outside Fuscideaceae. The proposal is pending vote by the Nomenclature Committee and, if accepted, will be forwarded to the next International Botanical Congress.