Vulpicida

Vulpicida is a genus of lichenized fungi in the family Parmeliaceae. Circumscribed in 1993 to contain species formerly placed in Cetraria, the genus is widespread in Arctic to northern temperate regions, and contains six species. The genus is characterized by the presence of the secondary metabolites pulvinic acid and vulpinic acid, compounds that when combined with usnic acid, give the species their characteristic yellow and green colors.

==Taxonomy== The genus was circumscribed by Jan-Eric Mattson and Ming-Jou Lai in a 1993 Mycotaxon publication, to contain yellow species containing vulpinic and pinastric acids and a broadly club-shaped ascus. Mattson published a monograph of the genus later that year. The group of species assigned to the genus were previously recognized as a distinct grouping by Finnish lichenologist Veli Räsänen in 1952, who classified them in the genus Cetraria, subgenus Platysma, section Flavidae, and subsection Cucullatae. The type species is Vulpicida juniperinus, originally Lichen juniperinus as described by Carl Linnaeus in the second volume of his 1753 Species Plantarum.