Fungalpedia – Note 2733, Cladoniicola
Cladoniicola Diederich, van den Boom & Aptroot.
Citation when using this data: Meng QF et al. – Fungalpedia.
Index Fungorum, Faceoffungi, MycoBank, GenBank, Fig 1.
Classification: Ascomycota genera incertae sedis, Fungi.
Cladoniicola was introduced by Diederich et al. (2001) to describe the lichenicolous coelomycete C. staurospora, which grows on the primary thallus of Cladonia. This genus is characterized by dark brown, subglobose, pycnidial, stromatic conidiomata that open irregularly without a defined ostiole. It lacks of conidiophores, with conidiogenous cells arising from the inner pycnidial wall, lining the pycnidial cavity. These cells are hyaline, non-septate, ellipsoidal, ampulliform, or irregular in shape, tapering towards the apex, and holoblastic. The conidia are hyaline, smooth, and thin-walled, basally slightly attenuated, elongate, with one main straight axis and four cylindrical arms (Diederich et al. 2001).
Etayo (2010b) introduced a second species, C. irregularis, which grows on the thallus of Diploschistes diacapsis. This species differs from C. staurospora by having larger conidiomata, larger conidiogenous cells, and more irregular and larger conidia. To date, two species are recognized in this genus, and no molecular data are available. As such, its phylogenetic status remains uncertain and requires further investigation when sequence data become available.
Type species: Cladoniicola staurospora Diederich, van den Boom & Aptroot
Other accepted species: Species Fungorum – search Cladoniicola.
Figure 1 – Cladoniicola staurospora redrawn from Diederich et al. (2001). a Black pycnidia growing on decolourized squamules of Cladonia humilis. b Conidiogenous cells and conidia. Scale bars: a = 1 mm, b = 10 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 23 July 2026