Primal thallus
primal thallus (pl. primal thalli) – an undifferentiated mycelium forming the first, purely fungal layer upon which a photobiont-containing thallus may develop, sometimes persistent as prothallus or hypothallus. Comment: The term primal thallus is introduced here to resolve conflicting use of the terms prothallus versus hypothallus by various authors. The prefix "pro-" means both "before" (temporarily) as well as "in front" (spatially). Thus "prothallus" refers to a thallus developing before the establishment of the main thallus as well as along the periphery of the main thallus. The prefix "hypo-" means "below" and would thus refer to a thallus developing under and therefore also before a main thallus.
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