Anisomeridium

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Anisomeridium
Anisomeridium polypori - Flickr - pellaea (3).jpg
Anisomeridium polypori
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Ascomycota
Class: Dothideomycetes
Order: Monoblastiales
Family: Monoblastiaceae
Genus: Anisomeridium
(Müll.Arg.) M.Choisy (1928)
Type species
Arthopyrenia xylogena
Müll.Arg. (1883)
Synonyms [1]
  • Arthopyrenia sect. AnisomeridiumMüll.Arg. (1883)
  • CompsosporiellaSankaran & B.Sutton (1991)
  • Ditremis Clem. (1909)
  • Lembidium Körb. (1855)
  • MicrotheliaKörb. (1855)
  • SarcinulellaB.Sutton & Alcorn (1983)

Anisomeridium is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Monoblastiaceae. [2] These lichens form thin, nearly invisible crusts that grow mostly embedded within the bark of trees or other surfaces. They are distinguished by their tiny flask-shaped fruiting bodies and distinctive spores that have internal cross-walls positioned closer to one end than the other.

Contents

Taxonomy

The type species was originally named Arthopyrenia xylogena by the Swiss lichenologist Johannes Müller Argoviensis in 1883; [3] in 1928, Maurice Choisy defined the genus Anisomeridium, designating A. xylogena as the type. [4]

Description

Anisomeridium forms an inconspicuous crust that lies almost completely within its substrate—usually the bark of broad-leaved trees, but sometimes decaying wood, mosses, or shaded rock. Because the thallus is immersed it appears only as a faint pale-grey film or scatter of whitish patches, and it lacks a separate protective cortex ; microscopic inspection shows a loose weft of fungal threads housing orange-tinged filaments of the green alga Trentepohlia , which supplies photosynthetic energy. [5]

Sexual reproduction takes place in tiny flask-shaped fruit bodies (perithecia) that are half-buried to almost fully exposed. Individual perithecia are hemispherical to nearly spherical and can merge into small compound clusters. Their carbonised wall is thicker in the upper half and commonly bears a well-defined cap (the involucrellum ). A quick field test with potassium hydroxide solution turns this wall a greenish tint, helping to separate Anisomeridium from similar genera. Internally, the cavity is filled with a clear gel threaded by slim, long-celled pseudoparaphyses that branch sparingly and fuse together, while the short hairs ( periphyses ) found in many flask lichens are absent. Each spore sac (ascus) is cylindrical to club-shaped, splits lengthwise when mature ( fissitunicate ), and possesses a small lens-like ocular chamber at the tip. Eight colourless ascospores are arranged in one or two rows; they are egg- to spindle-shaped, carry one to three cross-walls, and typically develop their first septum nearer the basal end of the spore. [5]

Asexual propagules are just as common. Immersed or slightly protruding pycnidia produce two sizes of conidia in separate structures: larger macroconidia that are ellipsoid rods and smaller microconidia that are almost spherical. Both types are simple (non-septate) and may be expelled en masse as a slimy white tendril. No secondary lichen substances have been detected in European representatives of the genus, so identification relies on the combination of an almost invisible thallus, greenish K-reaction of the perithecial wall, and thin-walled, multi-septate spores with a distinctive low-end septum. [5]

Species

As of June 2025, Species Fungorum accepts 35 species of Anisomeridium: [6]

References

  1. ↑ "Synonymy: Anisomeridium (Müll. Arg.) M. Choisy, Icon. Lich. Univ. 1: 24 (1928)". Species Fungorum . Retrieved 16 April 2021.
  2. ↑ Wijayawardene, Nalin; Hyde, Kevin; Al-Ani, Laith Khalil Tawfeeq; Somayeh, Dolatabadi; Stadler, Marc; Haelewaters, Danny; et al. (2020). "Outline of Fungi and fungus-like taxa". Mycosphere. 11: 1060–1456. doi: 10.5943/mycosphere/11/1/8 .
  3. ↑ Müller, J. (1883). "Lichenologische Beiträge XVIII". Flora (in Latin). 66 (18): 286–290.
  4. ↑ Choisy, Maurice (1928). Icones Lichenum Universalis.
  5. 1 2 3 Cannon, P.; Coppins, B.; Aptroot, A.; Sanderson, A.; Simkin, J. (2023). Perithecial genera I, including Acrocordia, Alloarthopyrenia, Anisomeridium, Antennulariella, Arthopyrenia, Celothelium, Cyrtidula, Dichoporis, Eopyrenula, Julella, Leptorhaphis, Leptosillia, Lithothelium, Mycomicrothelia, Mycoporum, Naetrocymbe, Pyrenula, Rhaphidicyrtis, Sarcopyrenia, Swinscowia and Tomasellia (PDF). Revisions of British and Irish Lichens. Vol. 37. p. 12. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  6. ↑ Species Fungorum. "Anisomeridium". Catalog of Life . Retrieved 16 June 2025.
  7. ↑ McCarthy, P.M.; Kantvilas, G. (2016). "A new species of Anisomeridium (Monoblastiaceae) from Kangaroo Island, South Australia" (PDF). Australasian Lichenology. 79: 16–19.
  8. ↑ Upreti, D.K.; Nayaka, S. (2006). "Anisomeridium calcicolum sp. nov. and further new records of pyrenocarpous lichens from India". The Lichenologist. 38 (3): 231–233. Bibcode:2006ThLic..38..231U. doi:10.1017/S0024282906005457.
  9. ↑ McCarthy, P.M.; Kantvilas, G. (2018). "Anisomeridium disjunctum (Monoblastiaceae), a new lichen species from Tasmania, with a key to the genus in Australia" (PDF). Australasian Lichenology. 83: 54–60.
  10. ↑ Santesson, R.; Tibell, L. (1988). "Foliicolous lichens from Australia". Austrobaileya. 2 (5): 529–545. doi: 10.5962/p.365736 .
  11. ↑ Aptroot, Andre; Andrade, Dannyelly Santos; MendonçA, CléVerton; Lima, Edvaneide Leandro De; CáCeres, Marcela Eugenia da Silva (2015). "Ten new species of corticolous pyrenocarpous lichens from NE Brazil". Phytotaxa. 197 (3): 197–206. Bibcode:2015Phytx.197..197A. doi:10.11646/phytotaxa.197.3.3.
  12. 1 2 Aptroot, André; Cáceres, Marcela Eugenia da Silva (2013). "Pyrenocarpous lichens (except Trypetheliaceae) in Rondônia". The Lichenologist. 45 (6): 763–785. Bibcode:2013ThLic..45..763A. doi:10.1017/S0024282913000534.
  13. 1 2 Boom, P.P.G. van den (2015). "Notes on the genus Anisomeridium (lichenized Ascomycotina) from Madeira and the Azores (Macaronesia)". Phytotaxa. 205 (1): 65–70. Bibcode:2015Phytx.205...65B. doi:10.11646/phytotaxa.205.1.6.
  14. ↑ Thor, G.; Lücking, R.; Matsumoto, T. (2000). "The foliicolous lichen flora of Japan". Symbolae Botanicae Upsalienses. 32 (3): 24.
  15. ↑ Coppins, Brian J.; Aptroot, André (2008). "New species and combinations in the lichens of the British Isles". The Lichenologist. 40 (5): 363–374. Bibcode:2008ThLic..40..363C. doi:10.1017/S0024282908008165.
  16. ↑ Aptroot, A.; Sipman, H.J.M. (2001). "New Hong Kong lichens, ascomycetes and lichenicolous fungi". Journal of the Hattori Botanical Laboratory. 91: 317–343.
  17. ↑ Etayo, Javier; Aptroot, André (2017). "New and interesting lichens from Panama". The Bryologist. 120 (4): 501–510. doi:10.1639/0007-2745-120.4.501.
  18. ↑ Harada, H. (2019). "Taxonomic notes on pyrenocarpous lichens in Japan (11). Anisomeridium yoshimurae sp. nov. (Monoblastiaceae)". Lichenology. 18 (1): 9–13.
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