Fungalpedia – Note 2617, Endococcus
Endococcus Nyl.
Citation when using this data: Meng QF et al. – Fungalpedia.
Index Fungorum, Faceoffungi, MycoBank, GenBank, Fig 1.
Classification: Verrucariaceae, Verrucariales, Chaetothyriomycetidae, Eurotiomycetes, Pezizomycotina, Ascomycota, Fungi.
= Discothecium Zopf, Nova Acta Acad. Caes. Leop.-Carol. German. Nat. Cur. 70(2) 131 (1897)
= Pseudoendococcus Marchand, Énum. Méth. Rais Fam. Genres Mycophytes (Paris) 1-334 (1896)
= Sorothelia Körb., Parerga lichenol. (Breslau) 5: 471 (1865)
Endococcus was introduced by Nylander (1855) to accommodate two species. Among them, the type species E. rugulosus was transferred from Verrucaria rugulosa Borrer ex Leight., which is more like a lichen growing on a wall based on the original description. Nylander (1855) redescribed it as parasitic on Verrucaria, with globose, immersed, or partially emergent black perithecia, 8-spored asci, and brown or light blackish, oblong, uniseptate spores.
Three synonymy genera are listed under Endococcus in Species Fungorum (2025). Discothecium Zopf was considered a synonym of Endococcus as its sole species Discothecium stigma (Körb.) Zopf transferred to Endococcus. This species underwent several nomenclatural changes. Initially introduced as Tichothecium stigma by Körber (1865), it was later transferred to Microthelia stigma by Jatta (1892). Zopf (1897) established the new genus Discothecium and combined this species as its type. Olivier (1907) combined it into Endococcus stigma. This species is now considered synonymous with E. macrosporus (Hepp ex Arnold) Nyl. Marchand (1896) introduced Pseudoendococcus, which was later synonymized with Endococcus. Körber (1865) established Sorothelia with the type species S. confluens, a lichenicolous fungus colonizing Phlyctis argena. Steiner (1904) later described Sorothelia apicicola (host: Usnea submollis var. ferroensis), which Santesson (1994) subsequently transferred to Endococcus apicicola. Current taxonomic consensus (MycoBank 2025, Index Fungorum 2025) treats Sorothelia as a synonym of Endococcus.
Endococcus includes 58 species, with 55 being lichenicolous and three being lichens (Index Fungorum 2025). In the 1800s, only 15 species were recognized in this genus, including four combinations and two non-lichenicolous species. These species primarily grow on crustose lichens such as Bacidia, Buellia, Graphis, Lecanora, Lecidea and Rhizocarpon (Ohlert 1870, Leighton 1871, Nylander 1872, 1873, 1879b, Arnold 1874b, Lamy 1878, Wainio 1878). Only one species, Endococcus nanellus Ohlert, grows on the fruticose lichen Stereocaulon (Ohlert 1870).
In the 1900s, six new species were introduced, and six were combined from other genera. Of these, five species grow on crustose lichens and other seven grow on foliose or fruticose lichens such as Alectoria, Collema, Platismatia, Ramalina, Usnea, Zahlbrucknerella (Hawksworth 1979b, Alstrup 1993b, Hafellner 1994a, Santesson 1994a, David et al. 1995a, Sérusiaux et al. 1999). 31 species have been added in the last 24 years. Most are new species, except for three combinations: Endococcus sendtneri (Arnold) Hafellner from Tichothecium calcaricola var. sendtneri Arnold, Endococcus hafellneri (Zhurb.) Zhurb. From Stigmidium hafellneri Zhurb. and Endococcus umbilicariae (Linds.) Hafellner from Microthelia umbilicariae Linds. (Hafellner 2019b, Hafellner et al. 2008, Zhurbenko et al. 2019).
The systemic status of Endococcus had been classified as Dothideomycetes genera incertae sedis since its establishement. Jayasiri et al. (2016) re-examined the type species of this genus, Endococcus rugulosus, provding a detailed description and illustration. During this examination, they placed the genus in Lichenotheliaceae, a view accepted by Wijayawardene et al. (2018). Although Wijayawardene et al. (2020) placed Endococcus in Verrucariaceae, Hyde et al. (2024) placed this genus within Lichenotheliaceae.
To date, there are only two sequences of this genus available in GenBank, and no phylogenetic analysis has been published. Therefore, the precise systematic location of this genus will require further analysis as more sequences become available.
Type species: Endococcus rugulosus (Borrer ex Leight.) Nyl.
=Verrucaria rugulosa Borrer ex Leight.
Other accepted species: Species Fungorum – search Endococcus.
Figure 1 – Endococcus rugulosus redrawn from Jayasiri et al. (2016). a Ascomata on host substrate. b Section of ascoma. c Asci. d Ascospores. Scale bars: b = 60 μm, c = 20 μm, d = 10 μm.
References
Alstrup V. 1993a – Notes on some lichenicolous fungi from Denmark. Graphis Scripta 5, 60–64.
Arnold F. 1874b – Lichenologische Fragmente. XVL. Flora 57 (9), 137–144.
Jatta A. 1892 – Materiali Per Un Censimento Generale Del Licheni Italiani. Fascicolo I. Nuovo Giornale Botanico Italiano 24 (1), 1–754.
Leighton WA 1871 – The lichen of Ceylon collected by G.H.K. Thwaites, Esq., Ph.D., F.R.S., F.L.S. in,Transactions of the Linnaean Society of London. 27.
Nylander W. 1855 – Essai d’une nouvelle classification des lichens: Second mémoire. Mémoires de la Société Impériale des Sciences Naturelles de Cherbourg 3, 161–202.
Nylander W. 1872 – Addenda nova ad Lichenographiam Europaeam. Contin. XIV. Flora 55, 353–365.
Nylander W 1873 – Observata lichenologica in Pyrenaeis orientalibus. Typographie de F. Le Blanc-Hardel, libraire.
Nylander W. 1879b – Addenda nova ad Lichenographiam Europaeam. Cont. XXXII. Flora 62, 353–362.
Olivier H. 1907 – Les principaux parasites de nos lichens frangais. Bulletin de l’Academie Internationale de Geographie Botanique 17, 123–128.
Santesson R. 1994a – Fungi Lichenicoli Exsiccati: Fasc. 9–10 (Nos 201–250). Thunbergia, 1–24.
Wainio E. 1878 – Florula Tavastia Orientalis. —Havaiunoita Ita-Hameen Kasvistosta. Meddelanden af Societas Pro Fauna Et Flora Fennica., 1–121.
Wijayawardene NN, Hyde K, Al-Ani L, Tedersoo L et al. 2020 – Outline of Fungi and fungus-like taxa. Mycosphere 11 (1), 1060–1456.
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