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Rock-inhabiting fungi (RIF) are melanized, meristematic fungi which dwell on and within rocks and have adapted to withstand harsh conditions in extreme habitats worldwide. Their morphological and genetic diversity remained unknown for a long time, but in the past few years culture-dependent and molecular phylogenetic approaches have contributed to uncovering the species richness of these otherwise very inconspicuous fungi. Only a few taxa of RIF develop both sexual reproductive structure (fertile stromata and/or pycnidia) and show multiple life styles, interacting with algae and lichen thalli in different ways. The genus Lichenothelia is one of these: It is characterized by fertile stromata and pycnidia and by species which can grow on and within exposed rocks, optionally associating with algae, with some species also being lichenicolous. The genus Lichenothelia includes up to now 25 species and form a monotypic family (Lichenotheliaceae) and order (Lichenotheliales) in Dothideomycetes. Here we focused on a group of Lichenothelia taxa distributed in the hot arid region of the Sonoran and Mojave Deserts in the Joshua Tree National Park in California. We performed molecular and morphological analyses and culture isolation and considered the ecology of the environmental samples to disentangle five species. We present the revision of two species already described, Lichenothelia calcarea and L. convexa, and introduce three new taxa to science, L. arida, L. umbrophila and L. umbrophila var. pullata.

The lichenicolous Phoma species on Cladonia are revised. A statistical analysis of the conidial size suggests that three species are involved: P. cladoniicola sp. nov. a common and widespread species in the Northern Hemisphere occurring on a wide range of Cladonia species; P. foliaceiphila sp. nov. known from C. foliacea and C. fimbriata in Europe; and P. grumantiana sp. nov. known from C. symphycarpia and C. mateocyatha in Svalbard and the USA. Material and MethodsHerbarium specimens are deposited in JACA, LE, LG, NY and PRM, and in the private collections of P. Diederich, J. Etayo and P. van den Boom. The P. Diederich: Musée national d'histoire naturelle, Key to the lichenicolous Phoma species on CladoniaNote: Conidial measurements are indicated as X z x X z + x , which means that the largest 16% and the smallest 16% are ignored.

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