The genus was originally
circumscribed by the Austrian naturalist
Giovanni Antonio Scopoli in 1777. Martyn Dibben designated
Lichen albescens (=
Lepra albescens) as a
neotype for the genus in 1980. In 2015, Kondratyuk and colleagues proposed the new genus
Marfloraea to contain 13 members of the
Variola group (one of four major
clades identified in
Pertusaria in the broad sense), with
Marfloraea amara (=
Lepra amara) selected as the type. The proposed genus was rejected a year later when
Josef Hafellner and Ayşen Türk explained that the new genus name was
superfluous because older available names existed that should have instead been used. Consequently, the genus
Lepra was reinstated to contain species formerly placed in the
Pertusaria albescens species group. Subsequent molecular studies have confirmed that the species now placed in
Lepra form a well-supported,
monophyletic lineage that is distinct from
Pertusaria in the strict sense. For much of the twentieth century these lichens were often treated under
Variolaria , but that name is a later
homonym of
Variolaria , which applies to a different
taxon of uncertain disposition. A proposal was therefore put forward to
conserve Variolaria against both
Lepra and
Variolaria , so that the traditional name
Variolaria could continue to be used for this group. However, by the time the proposal was considered,
Lepra had already been widely adopted in the recent literature, almost all required
new combinations had been made, and several additional species had been described in the genus. The
Nomenclature Committee for Fungi judged that reverting to
Variolaria would be more disruptive than maintaining current usage of
Lepra, and voted against recommending conservation. ==Description==