Lichenicolous Research Articles

Tridepsides as potential bioactives: a review on their chemistry and the global distribution of their lichenic and non-lichenic natural sources.

Tridepsides, as fully oxidized polyketides, have been known to exist in lichens for more than a century. Recent studies have showed that these possible defensive lichenochemicals possess various biological activities. Also, a candidate biosynthetic gene cluster was recently reported for gyrophoric acid (GA), an important tridepside. The present study focused on biosynthesis, natural sources, biological activities, and bioanalytical methods of tridepside molecules. Our survey shows that, so far, lichenic tridepsides have been reported from 37 families, 111 genera, and 526 species of lichen. Because many of their species contain tridepsides, the families Parmeliaceae, Lobariaceae, and Peltigeraceae can be considered critical lichenic sources of tridepsides. Furthermore, several species of Hypotrachyna in Parmeliaceae family showed lichenic tridepsides, suggesting that this genus is a viable source of tridepsides. This research also explored tridepsides from non-lichenic sources, such as non-lichenized fungi, lichenicolous fungi, endophytes, parasites, and liverworts, which offer substantial potential as biotechnological sources to produce tridepsides, which are produced in small amounts in lichen thalli. Two lichenic tridepsides have also been detected in non-lichenic sources: GA and tenuiorin (TE). Additionally, no significant correlation was found between tridepside biosynthesis and geographical distribution patterns for several potentially tridepside-producing lichens. We further showed that GA is the most studied tridepside with various reported biological activities, including anticancer, wound healing, photoprotection, anti-aging, antioxidant, cardiovascular effect, DNA interaction, anti-diabetes, anti-Alzheimer's, anti-bacterial, and antifungal. Last but not least, this study provides an overview of some bioanalytical methods used to analyze tridepsides over the past few years.

Additional records of lichens and lichenicolous fungi from the Giresun, Trabzon and Rize provinces, Turkey

Additional records of lichens and lichenicolous fungi from the Giresun, Trabzon and Rize provinces, Turkey

Notes to lichen-forming and lichenicolous fungi in Ukraine III

У цьому повідомленні наведено нові дані щодо лишайників та ліхенофільних грибів в Україні. У ньому наведені нові записи, виключення та підтвердження для адміністративних областей України таксонів з родів Acarospora, Agonimia, Arthonia, Bacidia, Caloplaca, Candelaria, Circinaria, Clauzadea, Coenogonium, Endococcus, Epithamnolia, Erythricium, Flavoplaca, Intralichen, Ionaspis, Laetisaria, Lathagrium, Lecania, Lendemeriella, Lichenochora, Lichenodiplis, Llimoniella, Myriolecis, Parmeliopsis, Peltigera, Petractis, Phaeophyscia, Physcia, Placynthium, Platismatia, Polyblastia, Polychidium, Polyozosia, Porina, Protoparmeliopsis, Pyrenidium, Pyrenochaeta, Pyrenodesmia, Punctelia, Rinodina, Rhizocarpon, Roselliniella, Rusavskia, Scytinium, Spirographa, Taeniolella, Telogalla, Toninia, Tremella, Trichoconis, Xanthocarpia, Xanthoriicola, Verrucaria. Серед них 29 видів лишайників та ліхенофільних грибів є новими для Чернівецької області, 12 видів – для Сумської області, 10 видів – для Тернопільської області, 7 видів – для Івано-Франківської області, 5 видів – для Київської та Житомирській областей, 4 види нових для Львівської, Харківської, Херсонської, Одеської та Волинської областей, три види нові для Донецької області, два види нових для Закарпатської області, по одному виду для Дніпропетровської, Хмельницької, Кіровоградської, Полтавської областей, а також один вид новий для Автономної Республіки Крим.

Lichen and Lichenicolous Fungal Communities Tested as Suitable Systems for the Application of Cross-Taxon Analysis

Lichens are outstanding examples of fungal symbioses that form long-lived structures, the lichen thalli, in which a multiplicity of other microorganisms are hosted. Among these, microfungi seem to establish diverse trophic relationships with their lichen hosts. The most specialised of these fungi are the parasitic lichenicolous fungi, of which the diversity has hardly been explained as a proxy for the diversity of lichen species. Here, we used an exemplar dataset of a well-studied alpine lichen community composed of 63 lichen and 41 lichenicolous fungal species and tested it to verify the strength of the co-occurrences of the two species groups with predictive co-correspondence analyses. The results showed that the distribution of lichen abundances affects the abundance and variation of lichenicolous fungi and supports our hypothesis to use lichens as surrogates for lichenicolous fungi in surrogacy analysis.

The lichen collection from Angola and Mozambique in COI (Coimbra, Portugal)

The importance of the COI lichen herbarium is increased by the results shown here. Forty-seven taxa are reported from Africa, forty-three from Angola and seven from Mozambique. Four species are new to Africa, 30 to Angola and 3 to Mozambique. Two species are described as new to science: Parmotrema carballalianum and Sclerococcum parmotrematis, a lichenicolous fungus living on the former. A key to all known lichenicolous species of Sclerococcum growing on Parmelia s.l. is provided.

Taxonomic and phylogenetic approach to some Antarctic lichenicolous fungi

Taxonomic and phylogenetic approach to some Antarctic lichenicolous fungi

Contributions to the knowledge of lichenicolous fungi growing on Sphaerophoraceae, with a key to the species

Contributions to the knowledge of lichenicolous fungi growing on Sphaerophoraceae, with a key to the species

Report of 27 lichenicolous fungi species and three genera new to Finland

Abstract: We studied systematically herbaria lichen specimens collected from Finland and from former Finnish parts of Russia to detect lichenicolous fungi. In total, 3355 lichen specimens were found with lichenicolous fungi from 160 taxa. We report here 27 species and three genera that are new to Finland. Three of these, <em>Cercidospora epithamnolia</em>, <em>Cyclothyrium</em> sp. and <em>Roselliniella stereocaulorum</em>, are reported as also new to Scandinavia. Three taxa are reported from a new host.

New records of lichens and lichenicolous fungi from Kenya and Tanzania (East Africa)

Hungarian collections of lichen-forming and lichenicolous fungi from Kenya and Tanzania were studied analysing morphological and anatomical characters, as well as secondary chemistry by chromatography (HPTLC). Altogether 39 species of lichen-forming fungi and three species of lichenicolous fungi have been recognized and deposited in VBI. The lichens Bulbothrix kenyana, Chrysothrix xanthina, Lobaria discolor, Parm otrem a durum ae and P. taitae were discovered as new for Tanzania; Usnea abissinica and U. sanguinea are new for Kenya. The first records of the lichenicolous fungi Didymocyrtis cf. melanelixiae, Lichenoconium erodens and Spirographa lichenicola are presented from East Africa.

Additions to the flora of lichenicolous fungi of Southern Italy

Additions to the flora of lichenicolous fungi of Southern Italy

Contributions to the lichen-forming and lichenicolous fungi of the Aggtelek National Park (NE Hungary)

Recent lichenological investigations add new and noteworthy records of lichen-forming and lichenicolous fungi to the Aggtelek National Park, especially from the Szalonna-Karst region (Mt Esztramos near Bódvarákó, Mt Szár-hegy near Martonyi). Altogether 64 records of 38 species of lichen-forming fungi and 13 species of lichenicolous fungi are presented and annotated. Agonimia globulifera, Lecanora compallens and Thalloidima physaroides have been reported from the Aggtelek National Park for the first time, and all the lichenicolous fungi (Athelia arachnoidea, Bryostigma parietinarium, Bryostigma phaeophysciae, Didymocyrtis slaptonensis, Illosporiopsis christiansenii, Lichenochora obscuroides, Lichenoconium erodens, Lichenodiplis lecanorae, Pronectria robergei, Pyrenochaeta xanthoriae, Roselliniella cladoniae, Xanthoriicola physciae, Zyzygomyces physciacearum) are also new to the Aggtelek National Park.

A contribution to the diversity of lichens and lichenicolous fungi in North Macedonian mountainous areas

Kaltenböck, M., Hafellner, J., Malíček, J. & Mayrhofer, H. 2022. Ein Beitrag zur Diversität von Flechten und lichenicolen Pilzen in den Gebirgen Nord-Mazedoniens. – Herzogia 35: 541–563. Eine Sammelexkursion wurde im Sommer 2017 durchgeführt mit Schwerpunkt Gipfellagen von sechs Gebirgszügen von Nord Mazedonia: Kajmakčalan, Korab, Kožuf, Mokra Planina, Pelister und Šar Planina. Circa 1200 Belege wurden gesammelt und 419 Taxa bestimmt. Davon sind 123 Flechten, 17 lichenicole Pilzen und ein nicht lichenisierter Pilz neu für das Land. Sechzehn Flechtentaxa sind neu für die Balkanhalbinsel: Allocetraria madreporiformis, Aspicilia supertegens, Caloplaca tetraspora, Epilichen scabrosus, Euopsis pulvinata, Kiliasia nordlandica, Koerberiella wimmeriana, Lecanora viridiatra, Lecidea speirodes, Miriquidica atrofulva, Placynthium dolichoterum, Protoblastenia aurata, P. terricola, Pyrenopsis sanguinea, Sporodictyon cruentum, Verrucaria transfugiens und drei lichenicole Pilze: Arthonia circinata, A. stereocaulina und Cercidospora melanophthalmae. Eine aktualisierte Bibliographie wird vorgestellt.

New and otherwise noteworthy records of lichenized and lichenicolous fungi from central European Russia II

Muchnik, E. E, Tsurykau, A., Otte, V., Breuss, O., Gerasimova, J. V. & Cherepenina, D. A. 2022. Neue und andere bemerkenswerte Funde lichenisierter und lichenicoler Pilze aus dem zentralen europäischen Teil Russlands II. – Herzogia 35: 494 –509. Funde von fünfzehn Arten lichenisierter und zehn lichenicoler Pilzen werden aufgeführt. Lecanora substerilis, Rufoplaca subpallida, Sarcogyne praetermissa und Verrucaria fuscoatroides werden erstmals für Russland nachgewiesen. Didymocyrtis epiphyscia s. lat., Epithamnolia longicladoniae, Lecanora barkmaniana und Sclerococcum epicladonia sind neu für den europäischen Teil Russlands. Arthonia phaeophysciae, Bacidina mendax, Cladonia novochlorophaea, Gyalecta carneola, Lichenoconium aeruginosum und Verrucaria pilosoides sind neu für den mittleren Teil des europäischen Russlands. Weitere neun Arten (Cliostomum corrugatum, Gyalecta derivata, Lichenoconium lecanorae, Micarea soralifera, Physciella chloantha, Taeniolella phaeophysciae, Talpapellis beschiana, Telogalla olivieri, Verrucaria ochrostoma) wurden bisher äußerst selten beobachtet. Auf ihre kennzeichnenden Merkmale und ihre Verbreitung wird kurz eingegangen.

Checklist of lichens and lichenicolous fungi of Morocco

Seaward, M. R. D. & Amrani, S. 2022. Checklist of lichens and lichenicolous fungi of Morocco. – Herzogia 35: 564 – 612. Die Flechtenflora von Marokko war Gegenstand zweier relativ neuzeitlicher Checklisten; jene von Egea, im Jahre 1996 veröffentlicht, enthielt 1.100 Taxa, was im Jahre 2013 durch Ajaj und Mitarbeiter auf 1.211 erhöht wurde. Als Ergebnis neuerer Geländearbeiten, detaillierten Studiums von Herbariumskatalogen und der signifikanten Zahl nomenklatorischer Veränderungen seit diesen zwei Veröffentlichungen wurde ein akzualisierte Checkliste nötig, die 1.287 Taxa (1.237 Flechten und 50 lichenicole und assoziierte Pilze) enthält.

To explore strange new worlds – The diversification in Tremella caloplacae was linked to the adaptive radiation of the Teloschistaceae

Lichenicolous fungi are a heterogeneous group of organisms that grow exclusively on lichens, forming obligate associations with them. It has often been assumed that cospeciation has occurred between lichens and lichenicolous fungi, but this has been seldom analysed from a macroevolutionary perspective. Many lichenicolous species are rare or are rarely observed, which results in frequent and large gaps in the knowledge of the diversity of many groups. This, in turn, hampers evolutionary studies that necessarily are based on a reasonable knowledge of this diversity. Tremella caloplacae is a heterobasidiomycete growing on various hosts from the lichen-forming family Teloschistaceae, and evidence suggests that it may represent a species complex. We combine an exhaustive sampling with molecular and ecological data to study species delimitation, cophylogenetic events and temporal concordance of this association. Tremella caloplacae is here shown to include at least six distinct host-specific lineages (=putative species). Host switch is the dominant and most plausible event influencing diversification and explaining the coupled evolutionary history in this system, although cospeciation cannot be discarded. Speciation in T. caloplacae would therefore have occurred coinciding with the rapid diversification – by an adaptive radiation starting in the late Cretaceous – of their hosts. New species in T. caloplacae would have developed as a result of specialization on diversifying lichen hosts that suddenly offered abundant new ecological niches to explore or adapt to.

An annotated catalogue of the lichenicolous fungi of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, India with new records and identification key

This article enumerates 72 species of lichenicolous fungi belonging to 21 families and 43 genera from Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. The study is based on published literature and specimens recently collected from some localities of Kishtwar High Altitude National Park, Jammu and Kashmir. Four species viz., Bachmanniomyces santessonii Etayo , Intralichen lichenum (Diederich) D. Hawksw., and M.S. Cole, Milospium graphideorum (Nyl.) D. Hawksw., and Roselliniella oxyspora Matzer and Hafellner are reported as new to India, while Milospium and Roselliniella are new generic records. Brief descriptions of the newly recorded species are presented. The geographical distribution, host lichens, and key to all the species of lichenicolous fungi presently known from Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are also provided.

NEW OR OTHERWISE INTERESTING RECORDS OF LICHENS AND LICHENICOLOUS FUNGI FROM MAINLAND ECUADOR AND SURROUNDINGS WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF FIVE NEW SPECIES

Altogether 322 taxa of lichens and lichenicolous fungi are reported from Ecuador of which many are probably new records for the country. These include five species which are described as new to science: Bacidia andina, Bacidina pulverula, Distopyrenis epidiorygma, Pertusaria lucidotetra and P. pseudoparnassia. From the separately treated genera Lepra and Pertusaria, 12 species are recorded for Ecuador and/or other Neotropical countries. Notes on morphology, chemistry and ecology are given.

Updates to the list of Estonian lichenized, lichenicolous and allied fungi


 
 
 Herewith, we continue to upgrade Estonian checklist of lichenized, lichenicolous and allied fungi and report twelve fungal species as new for Estonia, of them eleven are lichenized and one is lichenicolous fungus.
 
 

New and Interesting Records of Lichens, Lichenicolous Fungi and Other Ascomycota from Northwestern USA V

The lichenicolous fungus Sphaerellothecium taimyricum is reported as new to North America. The lichenicolous fungus Lichenopeltella leprosulae and the lichen Protothelenella leucothelia are reported as new to the USA and the hepaticolous fungus Pleostigma jungermannicola is reported as new to western North America. Arthonia xanthoparmeliarum is reported as new to northwestern North America and seven other species of lichenicolous fungi are reported as new to the contiguous 48 states of the USA. In total, 18 species are reported new to the state of Washington, 2 to California and Oregon, and one new species is reported for each of three other western states.

Taxonomic and Phylogenetic Reassessment of Pyrgidium (Mycocaliciales) and Investigation of Ascospore Morphology.

Mycocaliciales comprise non-lichenized either saprotrophic or lichenicolous fungi which occur in temperate and tropical regions. The mazaediate, saprotrophic and monospecific genus, Pyrgidium, is currently assigned to this order, yet the phylogenetic placement of the genus has remained uncertain due to the absence of molecular data. In order to investigate the systematic position of Pyrgidium, two specimens collected in Brazil and Thailand, respectively, were used to generate mtSSU, SSU, LSU and ITS sequences. However, given that most other representatives of this order only have LSU and ITS sequences available, the phylogenetic reconstruction was limited to these two markers. The phylogenetic analyses confirmed placement of the genus within Mycocaliciales, the genus possessing a sister group relationship with the lichenicolous genus Sphinctrina. Detailed morphological descriptions and illustrations are provided, including those for type specimens of the various synonyms subsumed under the hitherto only accepted species, Pyrgidium montellicum (Beltr.) Tibell. The ascospore morphology was investigated using compound and scanning electronic microscopy (SEM). Principal component analysis (PCA) was performed for the ascospore size using PC-ORD 7. The molecular data and re-examination of the type specimens support the monospecific nature of this genus.