Orphniospora
| Orphniospora | |
|---|---|
| Orphniospora groenlandica | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Ascomycota |
| Class: | Lecanoromycetes |
| Order: | Umbilicariales |
| Family: | Fuscideaceae |
| Genus: | Körb. (1874) |
| Type species | |
| Orphniospora groenlandica Körb. (1874)
| |
| Species | |
|
O. groenlandica | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
Orphniospora is a small genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Fuscideaceae. The genus was established in 1874 by the German lichenologist Gustav Wilhelm Körber and comprises three saxicolous (rock-dwelling) crustose species. These lichens are distinguished by their unusual spores, which are nearly spherical, single-celled, and produced only a few at a time in each spore-bearing structure. Despite being placed in the family Fuscideaceae in recent classifications, molecular studies have shown that Orphniospora does not actually belong to this family, leaving its correct taxonomic position uncertain.
Taxonomy
Orphniospora was circumscribed by the German lichenologist Gustav Wilhelm Körber in 1874. He created the genus for crustose lichens whose spores are monoblastic—single-celled or non-septate—almost spherical, and produced only a few per ascus (oligosporous). This spore morphology sets the genus apart from typical lecidioid lichens.[3] In his protologue Körber described a uniformly crustose thallus and black, sessile apothecia whose spore-bearing layer overlies a simple brown hypothecium. He also recognised a second species, O. groenlandica, which has a thin, granular thallus merging with the substrate and rare, terminally flattened apothecia with delicate margins. Further diagnostic characters include a violet-tinged hymenium with conglutinate (stuck-together) paraphyses and a granular brown hypothecium, together with the distinctive spores.[3] The correct taxonomic placement of Orphniospora is unclear.[4] Although it has been placed in the family Fuscideaceae in recent fungal classifications,[5][6][7] molecular phylogenetics work has shown that it does not belong to this family.[8][4]
Description
The thallus of Orphniospora species forms a crust tightly attached to the substrate, breaking into small, tile-like areoles that give the surface a mosaic appearance. A thin, blackish prothallus—essentially a boundary zone where no lichenised tissue develops—often outlines the colony. The photobiont partner is a single-celled green alga (chlorococcoid). Black, disc-shaped apothecia (fruiting bodies) arise directly from the thallus without a surrounding rim of thallus tissue. Their surfaces are sometimes dusted with a faint rusty or ochre powder (pruina). Both the outer wall (exciple) and the layer beneath the spore-producing tissue (hypothecium) are dark brown, whereas the hymenium—the fertile layer in which spores develop—is colourless but may turn pale blue with iodine staining.[4] Under the microscope, the hymenium is interlaced with slender, mostly unbranched paraphyses—sterile filaments that separate the developing asci (spore sacs) and can fuse to one another (anastomose). Each club-shaped ascus contains eight ascospores and shows a narrow, weakly iodine-reactive apical dome, overlaid by a more diffuse cap that turns a strong blue in combined potassium iodide tests (K/I+). The ascospores themselves are thick-walled, ellipsoidal, and vary from colourless to dark olive-brown; they may be single-celled or have an indistinct median septum. Asexual reproduction occurs in tiny, immersed pycnidia that release colourless, rod-shaped conidia formed on simple cylindrical conidiophores. Standard thin-layer chromatography has failed to detect any secondary metabolites in the genus.[4]
Ecology
Orphniospora lichen are saxicolous, and grow on hard siliceous rocks.[4]
Species
Species Fungorum (in the Catalogue of Life) accepts three species in Orphniospora:[7]
- Orphniospora groenlandica Körb. (1874)
- Orphniospora moriopsis (A.Massal.) D.Hawksw. (1982)[9]
- Orphniospora mosigii (Körb.) Hertel & Rambold (1988)[10]
References
- ^ "Synonymy. Current Name: Orphniospora Körb., in Hertlaub & Lindeman, Zweite Deutsch. Nordpolarfahrt 2: 81 (1874)". Species Fungorum. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
- ^ Ciferri, R.; Tomaselli, R. (1953). "Saggio di una sistematica micolichenologica". Atti dell'Istituto Botanico della Università e Laboratorio Crittogamico di Pavia. 10 (1): 25–84.
- ^ a b Körber, G.W. (1874). "4. Flechten. Die Zweite Deutsche Nordpolarfahrt". Die zweite Deutsche Nordpolarfahrt in den Jahren 1869 und 1870, unter Führung des Kapitän Karl Koldewey [The Second German North Polar Expedition in the years 1869 and 1870, under the leadership of Captain Karl Koldewey] (in German). Vol. 2. Leipzig: F.A. Brockhaus. pp. 75–82 [81].
- ^ a b c d e Cannon, P.; Coppins, B.; Aptroot, A.; Sanderson, N.; Simkin, J. (2025). Miscellaneous lichens and lichenicolous fungi, including Aphanopsis and Steinia (Aphanopsidaceae), Arthrorhaphis (Arthrorhaphidaceae), Buelliella, Hemigrapha, Melaspileella, Stictographa and Taeniolella (Asterinales, family unassigned), Phylloblastia (Chaetothyriales, family unassigned) Cystocoleus (Cystocoleaceae), Sclerococcum (Dactylosporaceae), Eiglera (Eigleraceae), Epigloea (Epigloeaceae), Euopsis (Harpidiaceae), Lichenothelia (Lichenotheliaceae), Lichinodium (Lichinodiaceae), Melaspilea (Melaspileaceae), Epithamnolia and Mniaecia (Mniaeciaceae), Lichenostigma (Phaeococcomycetaceae), Pycnora (Pycnoraceae), Racodium (Racodiaceae), Chicitaea and Loxospora (Sarrameanaceae), Schaereria (Schaereriaceae), Strangospora (Strangosporaceae), Botryolepraria and Stigmidium (Verrucariales, family unassigned), and Biatoridium, Mycoglaena, Orphniospora, Piccolia, Psammina and Wadeana (order and family unassigned) (PDF). Revisions of British and Irish Lichens. Vol. 57. p. 62.
- ^ 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 [164]. doi:10.5943/mycosphere/13/1/2.
- ^ Hyde, K.D.; Noorabadi, M.T.; Thiyagaraja, V.; He, M.Q.; Johnston, P.R.; Wijesinghe, S.N.; et al. (2024). "The 2024 Outline of Fungi and fungus-like taxa". Mycosphere. 15 (1): 5146–6239 [5267]. doi:10.5943/mycosphere/15/1/25.
- ^ a b "Orphniospora". Catalogue of Life. Species 2000: Leiden, the Netherlands. Retrieved 13 July 2025.
- ^ Zahradníková, M. (2017). Taxonomy and phylogeny of the family Fuscideaceae (Umbilicariales, Ascomycota) with special emphasis on Fuscidea. PhD thesis, 88 pp. Bergen: University of Bergen.
- ^ Hawksworth, D.L. (1982). "Changes to the British checklist arising from the abolition of later fungal starting points". The Lichenologist. 14 (2): 131–137 [135]. doi:10.1017/S0024282982000279.
- ^ Hertel, H.; Rambold, G. (1988). "Lecidea mosigii (Kirb.) Anzi – eine Art der Gattung Orphniospora Körb. (Fuscideaceae, Teloschistales)" [Lecidea mosigii (Kirb.) Anzi – a species of the genus Orphniospora Körb. (Fuscideaceae, Teloschistales)]. Mitteilungen aus der Botanischen Staatssammlung München (in German). 27: 111–123.