Fungalpedia – Note 2653, Gliocephalis

 

Gliocephalis Matr.

Citation when using this data: Meng QF et al. – Fungalpedia.

Index Fungorum, Facesoffungi, MycoBank, GenBank, Fig 1.

Classification: Pyxidiophoraceae, Pyxidiophorales, Laboulbeniomycetes, Pezizomycotina, Ascomycota, Fungi

Gliocephalis was introduced by Matruchot (1899) to accommodate the type species G. hyaline, which features a sporiferous head that bears a drop of hyaline mucilage. The genus is closely related to Gliocladium, which also has mucilage enveloping its spores, marking a significant difference from Penicillium. Hawksworth (1979a) transferred a second species, Gliocephalis pulchella, from Gliocladium pulchellum, originally described as growing on lichen thallus. According to the lichenicolous list by Diederich et al. (2018a), this species was recorded growing on Sticta and placed within Laboulbeniales genus incertae sedis. In the phylogenetic analysis based on SSU sequence conducted by Haelewaters et al. (2021), Gliocephalis hyaline was cluster in Pyxidiophorales clade. Consequently, Wijayawardene et al. (2022) placed Gliocephalis within Pyxidiophoraceae which formally established by Arnold (1971).  

Type species: Gliocephalis hyalina Matr.

Accepted species (lichenicolous).

Gliocephalis pulchella (Penz. & Sacc.) D. Hawksw., on Sticta (Hawksworth 1979a).

= Gliocladium pulchellum Penz. & Sacc. (Penzig et al. 1902).

Other accepted species: Species Fungorum – search Gliocephalis

Figure 1 – Gliocephalis hyalina redrawn from Matruchot (1899).

 

References

Arnold G. 1971 – Über einige neue Taxa und Kombinationen der Sphaeriales. Zeitschrift für Pilzkunde 37, 187–198.

Diederich P, Lawrey JD, Ertz D. 2018a – The 2018 classification and checklist of lichenicolous fungi, with 2000 non-lichenized, obligately lichenicolous taxa. The Bryologist 121 (3), 340–425.

Haelewaters D, Gorczak M, Kaishian P, De Kesel A et al. 2021 – Laboulbeniomycetes, enigmatic fungi with a turbulent taxonomic history. Encyclopedia of mycology 1, 263–283.

Hawksworth DL, Dyko B. 1979 – Lichenodiplis and Vouauxiomyces: Two New Genera of Lichenicolous Coelomycetes. Lichenologist 11, 51–61.

Matruchot M. 1899 – Notes mycologiques. I. Gliocephalis hyalina. Bull Soc Mycol France 15, 254–262.

Wijayawardene NN, Hyde KD, Dai D-Q, Sanchez-Garcia M et al. 2022 – Outline of Fungi and fungus-like taxa – 2021. Mycosphere 13 (1), 53–453.

 

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 1 July 2026

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