Sarcopyrenia

Last updated

Sarcopyrenia
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Ascomycota
Class: Eurotiomycetes
Order: Verrucariales
Family: Sarcopyreniaceae
Nav.-Ros. & Cl.Roux (1998)
Genus: Sarcopyrenia
Nyl. (1858)
Type species
Sarcopyrenia gibba
Nyl. (1856)
Species

See text

Synonyms [1]
  • Hassea Zahlbr. (1902)
  • Sarcopyreniomyces Cif. & Tomas. (1953)
  • SarcopyreniopsisCif. & Tomas. (1953)

Sarcopyrenia is a genus of lichenicolous (lichen-dwelling) fungi. It has 11 species. It is the only genus in Sarcopyreniaceae, a family in the order Verrucariales. [2] Sarcopyreniaceae is one of the few families composed entirely of lichenicolous fungi. [3] These tiny fungi produce small, black, flask-shaped fruiting bodies (perithecia) typically less than half a millimetre across, containing extremely narrow, thread-like ascospores. While they initially grow on crustose lichens, their fruiting bodies often outlast their hosts and end up sitting on bare rock, making their exact relationship with lichens somewhat unclear.

Contents

Taxonomy

Sarcopyrenia was circumscribed by Finnish lichenologist William Nylander in 1858, with Sarcopyrenia gibba assigned as the type species. Nylander's Latin diagnosis emphasised the genus's barely visible thallus, prominent apothecia enclosed in a thick outer structure ( conceptacle ), and a distinctive double-layered opening. He characterised the ascospores as colourless and cylindrical, and noted the absence of paraphyses. The type species was described from calcareous rocks in Algeria, with black, hemispherical fruiting bodies about 0.5 mm across. [4]

Description

In species of Sarcopyrenia the lichen body (thallus), when it is developed at all, is an ill-defined film that is olive-grey and either scaly or made of tiny granules. It partners with a green alga (the photobiont ) and often seems to form as the host lichen beneath it breaks down; a separate border ( prothallus ) is seldom seen, but when present it is white to pale grey. [5]

The sexual fruiting bodies are perithecia: small, black, flask-like structures with a single pore (an ostiole) at the top. They are carbon-rich and brittle, smooth to slightly warty, and tend to occur singly rather than in clusters. Young perithecia can begin partly buried in the thallus, but as the surrounding tissue deteriorates they end up sitting on the surface. The wall of the perithecium (the exciple ) is built in three layers of angular cells: an outer, coal-black carbonised layer; a middle layer that ranges from colourless to darkened; and a thinner inner layer of smaller, side-compressed cells. [5]

Inside the perithecium the spore-bearing tissue includes fine threads (paraphyses) that disappear early, while short bristles lining the pore ( periphyses ) are present. The gel around the spores does not change colour in iodine tests, and the spore sacs (asci) are cylindrical to slightly club-shaped, short-stalked, thin-walled, and do not show the special "double-wall" opening ( fissitunicate ) or beaked tip ( rostrate ) seen in some other ascomycetes. Each ascus carries eight colourless spores arranged in two rows. The spores are thin-walled and very narrow—ranging from thread-like to dumb-bell-shaped, sometimes gently S-shaped—with slightly swollen tips; they may be one-celled or with a cross-wall, and lack any gelatinous sheath or appendages. Asexual reproductive structures (conidiomata) have not been observed, and standard thin-layer chromatography has not detected secondary lichen substances. [5]

Sarcopyrenia species are usually treated as lichen-dwelling fungi (lichenicolous), although some authors have reported an associated simple green alga (a chlorococcoid photobiont). Colonies appear to begin as parasites of crustose lichens, but the fruiting bodies often outlast the host and end up on bare rock, leaving their mode of nutrition uncertain. [5]

Species

Host data is from Diederich, Lawrey, and Ertz's 2018 review of lichenicolous fungi. [3]

References

  1. ↑ "Synonymy: Sarcopyrenia Nyl., Mém. Soc. Acad. Maine Loire 4: 69 (1858)". Species Fungorum . Retrieved 16 October 2025.
  2. ↑ Wijayawardene, N.N.; Hyde, K.D.; Dai, D.Q.; Sánchez-García, M.; Goto, B.T.; Saxena, R.K.; et al. (2022). "Outline of Fungi and fungus-like taxa – 2021". Mycosphere. 13 (1): 53–453. doi: 10.5943/mycosphere/13/1/2 .
  3. 1 2 Diederich, Paul; Lawrey, James D.; Ertz, Damien (2018). "The 2018 classification and checklist of lichenicolous fungi, with 2000 non-lichenized, obligately lichenicolous taxa". The Bryologist. 121 (3): 340–425. doi:10.1639/0007-2745-121.3.340.
  4. ↑ Nylander, W. (1858). Expositio synoptica Pyrenocarpeorum [A Synopsis of the Pyrenocarps] (in Latin). Cosnier et Lachèse. p. 69.
  5. 1 2 3 4 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. pp. 34–35. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  6. ↑ Navarro-Rosinés, P.; Roux, C.; Bricaud, O. (1998). "Sarcopyrenia acutispora Nav.-Ros. et Cl. Roux sp. nov., nelikeniginta fungo likenloga (Ascomycetes, Verrucariales, Sarcopyreniaceae Nav.-Ros. et Cl. Roux fam. nov.)" [Sarcopyrenia acutispora Nav.-Ros. & Cl. Roux, a new species of non-lichenized fungus (Ascomycetes, Verrucariales, Sarcopyreniaceae Nav.-Ros. & Cl. Roux, new family)]. Bulletin de la Société Linnéenne de Provence. 49: 125–135.
  7. ↑ Navarro-Rosinés, P.; Hladun, N.L. (1990). "El género Sarcopyrenia Nyl. (ascomicetes liquenícolas) en Europa y norte de Africa" [The genus Sarcopyrenia Nyl. (lichenocolous ascomycetes) in Europe and northern Africa]. Candollea. 45: 469–489.
  8. 1 2 3 Navarro-Rosinés, P.; Gueidan, C.; Hladun, N.L.; Roux, C. (2009). "Sinopsis de género Sarcopyrenia (Ascomycota, hongos liquenícolas), con la descripción de tres nuevas especies" [A synopsis of the genus Sarcopyrenia (Ascomycota, lichenicolous fungi), including descriptions of three new species]. Revista Catalana de Micologia (in Spanish). 31: 49–69.
  9. ↑ Lendemer, J.C.; Harris, R.C.; Tripp, E.A. (2013). The Lichens and allied fungi of Great Smoky Mountains National Park: an annotated checklist with comprehensive keys. Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden. Vol. 104. p. 43. ISBN   978-0-89327-521-1.
  10. ↑ Tretiach, M.; Navarro-Rosinés, P. (1996). "Sarcopyrenia sigmoideospora sp. nov., a lichenicolous Ascomycete growing on Verrucaria gr. parmigera". Nova Hedwigia. 62 (1–2): 249–254.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.