| Mycoblastus | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Closeup of the lichen Mycoblastus sanguinarioides ; scale bar is 1 mm | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Ascomycota |
| Class: | Lecanoromycetes |
| Order: | Lecanorales |
| Family: | Tephromelataceae |
| Genus: | Mycoblastus Norman (1852) |
| Type species | |
| Mycoblastus sanguinarius (L.) Norman (1926) | |
| Synonyms [1] | |
Mycoblastus is a genus of crustose lichens in the family Tephromelataceae. [2] Members of the genus are commonly called blood lichens. [3] [4]
The genus was circumscribed in 1852 by Johannes Musaeus Norman, who selected the widespread Mycoblastus sanguinarius as the type species. [5] This species was one of many introduced by Carl Linnaeus in his influential 1753 work Species Plantarum , as Lichen sanguinarius. [6] In North America this species is colloquially known as the "bloody-heart lichen". [7]
In 1984 Josef Hafellner created the family Mycoblastaceae to contain this genus, but this family has since been placed in synonymy with the Tephromelataceae. [8]
Mycoblastus species produce a grayish-white or greenish-gray crustose thallus that contains a green algal photobiont from the genus Trebouxia . The apothecia are typically large, hemmispherical, shiny black or dark pigmented, and lack a margin. There are highly branched and anastomosing paraphyses that form a network around the asci. The asci are lecanoralean (meaning an apothecium containing algae at least below the hypothecium and usually having a distinct amphithecium that often also contains algae) that mostly contain one or two, colorless, thick-walled ascospores. [7]
As of April 2021, Species Fungorum accepts 14 species of Mycoblastus: [9]
The species once known as Mycoblastus fucatus was transferred into a new genus, Violella , circumscribed in 2011 to contain it and other similar species with Biatora -type asci and unusual pigmentation in the hymenium. [13]