A. ciliaris A. crinalis A. desertorum A. elbursiana A. ethiopica A. isidiza A. nevadensis A. roemerioides Anaptychia is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Physciaceae.

[5] A few years later, Josef Poelt thought the genus should be divided into two genera – Anaptychia and Heterodermia – based largely on differences in spore structure.

[8] Other advancements in the taxonomy of Anaptychia have clarified the classification within section Protoanaptychia, a group originally proposed by Josef Poelt, primarily found in arid and semi-arid regions of the Northern Hemisphere.

This section includes species such as A. desertorum, A. elbursiana, A. mereschkowskii, and A. roemeri, which are morphologically distinct from those found in moist temperate to arctic regions.

This clarification is relevant to North American literature, where the orthographic variant A. ulotrichoides has been mistakenly applied to a different species that reproduces primarily through fragmentation.

These taxonomic updates, while significant, have been underreported in North American literature, possibly due to language barriers, as some of the research was published in Russian.

The lichen's lower surface can be of a light hue which may darken over time, and it can range from having a sparse to a dense presence of root-like structures known as rhizines.