Molecular analyses uncover the phylogenetic placement of the lichenized hyphomycetous genusCheiromycina

Abstract

The genus Cheiromycina is one of the few genera of lichenized hyphomycetes for which no sexual reproductive stages have been observed. The genus includes species from boreal to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere where it is found growing on bark or wood. Congeners in Cheiromycina are characterized by a noncorticate thallus, nearly immersed in the substrate and presenting powdery unpigmented sporodochia, and containing chlorococcoid photobionts. The relationships of members of Cheiromycina with other fungi are not known. Here we inferred the phylogenetic placement of Cheiromycina using three loci (nuSSU, nuLSU, and mtSSU) representing C. flabelliformis, the type species for the genus, C. petri, and C. reimeri. Our results revealed that the genus Cheiromycina is found within the family Malmideaceae (Lecanorales) where members formed a monophyletic clade sister to the genera Savoronala and Malmidea. This phylogenetic placement and the relationships of Cheiromycina with other lichenized hyphomycetous taxa are here discussed.

Molecular systematics and character evolution in the lichen family Ramalinaceae (Ascomycota: Lecanorales)

“…However, recent studies on the Malmideaceae have indicated that the ascus and ascospore structures vary between the different genera (Cáceres & al., 2017). The family Malmideaceae has lately been investigated in more detail and several new genera have been described (Cáceres & al., 2017;Muggia & al., 2017;Sodamuk & al., 2017). Further molecular studies with a dataset including sequences of all known Malmideaceae genera are necessary to find out whether all species from clade A belong into this family and whether they form distinct genera.…”

Białowieża Forest—A Relic of the High Naturalness of European Forests

“…The data on flora and fauna of BF has been gathered since the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, when the first scientific papers, based on materials collected in the forest, were published [77,78]. During the last century, aside of continuation of floristic and faunistic surveys, over 100 species new to science, mainly fungi and insects, were described from there [79]-and still almost every year new taxons are added [80][81][82]. Out of the vast diversity of life, only data on plants, macrofungi (including lichens) and animals is robust enough to carry out synthesis or comparison to similar temperate forests of Northern Hemisphere, showing the BF outstanding diversity ( Table 1).…”

Three overlooked species of Bacidia from insular Laurimacaronesia

“…Puttea includes species with non‐septate ascospores, minute apothecia with a poorly developed proper exciple, and (when pigmented) brown pigment caps on the terminal cells of the excipular hyphae (Dillman et al 2012). Ascomata are unknown in Cheiromycina and Savoronala , which are instead recognised by their prominent sporodochia (Ertz et al 2013, Muggia et al 2017). Ascospores with up to 3 septa are known in Crustospathula and Kalbionora , but Crustospathula is also characterised by stalked soralia, Kalbionora by a brown hypothecium, and both genera by a variety of lichen substances not involving fumarprotocetraric acid (Kalb et al 2012, Sodamuk et al 2017).…”