Rusavskia

Rusavskia is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Teloschistaceae. It has 12 species. It is a member of the subfamily Xanthorioideae. The thallus of Rusavskia is characterised by its foliose (leaf-like) structure with distinct and typically narrow that curve outwards.

==Taxonomy== The genus Rusavskia was proposed by lichenologists Sergey Kondratyuk and Ingvar Kärnefelt in 2003, with Rusavskia elegans assigned as the type species. The initial circumscription of the genus relied predominantly on an evaluation of morphological, anatomical and chemical characteristics, with a notable absence of molecular phylogenetic analysis. For this reason, the reception of the Rusavskia by lichenologists was initially met with cautious appraisal. As several molecular studies in the subsequent years showed, the Rusavskia elegans-group occupies a separate monophyletic branch in the Teloschistaceae; the growing body of molecular evidence led to the acceptance of the genus Rusavskia.