Fungalpedia – Note 2577, Briancoppinsia
Briancoppinsia Diederich, Ertz, Lawrey & van den Boom
Citation when using this data: Meng QF et al. – Fungalpedia.
Index Fungorum, Facesoffungi, MycoBank, GenBank, Fig 1
Classification: Arthoniaceae, Arthoniales, Arthoniomycetes, Pezizomycotina, Ascomycota, Fungi
The monotypic genus Briancoppinsia was established by Diederich et al. (2012) based on phylogenetic analysis to accommodate the lichenicolous fungus Briancoppinsia cytospora, which grows on the thallus of Lecanora conizaeoides. This species was originally described as Phyllosticta cytospora by Vouaux (1914). In a phylogenetic tree constructed using two loci (LSU and mtSSU), Briancoppinsia recovered as sister to the clade containing Arthothelium galapagoense and Crypthothecia candida (Diederich et al. 2012).
Briancoppinsia is characterized by its pycnidial conidiomata, which are partly immersed in the host thallus or apothecia, and exhibit a dark brown to black coloration. It features ampulliform conidiogenous cells, and hyaline, aseptate, basally truncate, narrowly ellipsoidal, and slightly curved conidia (Diederich et al. 2012, Cannon et al. 2020). The members are found as lichenicolous on various lichen species of Parmeliaceae, such as Evernia, Hypogymnia and Parmelia spp., and occasionally grows on Lecanora spp. Molecular data (LSU and mtSSU) are available for this genus.
Type species: Briancoppinsia cytospora (Vouaux) Diederich, Ertz, Lawrey & van den Boom, on Lecanora conizaeoides, Parmotrema, Evernia and Cladonia.
Other accepted species: Species Fungorum – search Briancoppinsia.
Figure 1 – Briancoppinsia cytospora redrawn from Diederich et al. (2012). a Conidia. b Conidiogenous cells and conidia. Scale bar = 5 μm.
References
Entry by
Meng QF, Center of Excellence in Fungal Research, Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai, 57100, Thailand and School of Public Health, Zunyi Medical University, Guizhou 563000, China
Published online 5 June 2026