Theodore Lee Esslinger

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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 parmelioid lichens and for developing online resources for lichen taxonomy.

Career

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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.[1] As of 2025, he is listed as an emeritus professor at NDSU.[2]

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.[1]

Recognition

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The fungal genus Esslingeriana was named in his honour,[3] as were the species Ocellularia esslingeri Hale (1978);[4] Xanthoparmelia esslingeri O.Blanco, A.Crespo, Elix, D.Hawksw. & Lumbsch (2004);[5] Phaeophyscia esslingeri S.Y.Kondr., Lőkös, J.J.Woo & Hur (2016);[6] and Peltigera esslingeri Magain, Miądl. & Sérus. (2023).[7]

Selected publications

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  • Esslinger, T.L. (1977). "A chemosystematic revision of the brown Parmeliae". Journal of the Hattori Botanical Laboratory. 42: 1–211. doi:10.18968/jhbl.42.0_1.
  • Esslinger, Theodore L. (1980). "Typification of Oropogon loxensis and description of two related species". The Bryologist. 83 (4): 529–532. doi:10.2307/3242309. JSTOR 3242309.
  • Esslinger, Theodore L. (1989). "Systematics of Oropogon (Alectoriaceae) in the New World". Systematic Botany Monographs. 28: 1. doi:10.2307/25027728. JSTOR 25027728.
  • Esslinger, Theodore L. (2021). "A cumulative checklist for the lichen-forming, lichenicolous and allied fungi of the Continental United States and Canada, version 24". Opuscula Philolichenum. 20: 100–394. doi:10.5962/p.388279.
The standard author abbreviation Essl. is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.[8]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Hertel, Hannes; Gärtner, Georg; Lőkös, László (2017). "Forscher an Österreichs Flechtenflora" [Investigators of Austria's lichen flora] (PDF). Stapfia (in German). 104 (2): 1–211 [40].
  2. ^ "Emeriti". Department of Biological Sciences. North Dakota State University. Retrieved September 14, 2025.
  3. ^ Hertel, Hannes (2012). Gattungseponyme bei Flechten und Lichenicolen Pilzen [Genus eponyms among lichens and lichenicolous fungi]. Bibliotheca Lichenologica (in German). Vol. 107. Stuttgart: J. Cramer. p. 114. ISBN 978-3-443-58086-5.
  4. ^ Hale, M.E. (1978). "A revision of the lichen family Thelotremataceae in Panama". Smithsonian Contributions to Botany. 38: 1–60 [20].
  5. ^ Blanco, Oscar; Crespo, Ana; Elix, John A.; Hawksworth, David L.; Thorsten Lumbsch, H. (2004). "A molecular phylogeny and a new classification of parmelioid lichens containing Xanthoparmelia-type lichenan (Ascomycota: Lecanorales)". Taxon. 53 (4): 959–975. doi:10.2307/4135563. JSTOR 4135563.
  6. ^ Kondratyuk, S. Y.; Lőkös, L.; Farkas, E.; Woo, J.J.; Hur, J.S. (2016). "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" (PDF). Studia Botanica Hungarica. 47 (2): 251–262. doi:10.17110/studbot.2016.47.2.251.
  7. ^ Magain, N.; Miadlikowska, J.; Goffinet, B.; Goward, T.; Pardo-De la Hoz, C.J.; Jüriado, I.; Simon, A.; Mercado-Díaz, J.A.; Barlow, T.; Moncada, B.; Lücking, R.; Spielmann, A.; Canez, L.; Wang, L.S.; Nelson, P.; Wheeler, T.; Lutzoni, F.; Sérusiaux, E. (2023). "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". Persoonia. 51: 1–88. doi:10.3767/persoonia.2023.51.01. PMC 11041898. PMID 38665978.
  8. ^ International Plant Names Index. Essl.