Fungalpedia – Note 2621, Clypeococcum
Clypeococcum D. Hawksw.
Citation when using this data: Meng QF et al. – Fungalpedia.
Index Fungorum, faceoffungi, MycoBank, GenBank, Fig 1.
Classification: Polycoccaceae, Trypetheliales, Dothideomycetes orders incertae sedis, Pezizomycotina, Ascomycota, Fungi
Clypeococcum was established by Hawksworth (1977a) to accommodate the lichenicolous C. cladonema (Wedd.) D. Hawksw. which was transferred from Lecidea cladonema Wedd. It grows on the thalli of Parmelia verruculifera Nyl. on volcanic rocks (Hawksworth 1977a). Initially, it belongs to Pleosporaceae Wint. However, in the first molecular phylogenetic analysis conducted by Ertz et al. (2015b), two Clypeococcum species and five Polycoccum species formed a clade with strong statistical support, nested within the Trypetheliales clade. Consequently, the new family Polycoccaceae Ertz, Hafellner & Diederich was established to accommodate the two genera, Clypeococcum and Ploycoccum (Ertz et al. 2015b). This genus is characterized by globose, black, ostiolate pseudothecia united in groups by a common black clypeus, filiform, hyaline, septate, anastomosing pseudoparaphyses, subcylindrical, short-stalked, bitunicate, 8-spored asci and ellipsoid, uniseptate, dark brown ascospores with delicately verruculose walls (Hawksworth 1977a). There are 17 species in Index Fungorum (2025), and all of them are lichenicolous. Three LSU sequences belonging to three species are available in GenBank.
Type species: Clypeococcum cladonema (Wedd.) D. Hawksw.
Other accepted species: Species Fungorum – search Clypeococcum.
Figure 1 – Clypeococcum cladonema redrawn from Hawksworth (1977a). a Vertical section of ascomata. b Pseudoparaphyses. c Asci. d Ascospores. Scale bars: a = 100 μm, b–d = 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 June 2026