Fungalpedia – Note 2602, Lichenoconium
Lichenoconium Petr. & Syd.
Citation when using this data: Meng QF et al. – Fungalpedia.
Index Fungorum, Facesoffungi , MycoBank, GenBank, Fig 1.
Classification: Abrothallaceae, Abrothallales, Dothideomycetes orders incertae sedis, Pezizomycotina, Ascomycota, Fungi.
Lichenoconium was established by Petrak et al. (1927) to accommodate the type species L. lichenicola (P. Karst.) Petr. & Syd. Which was transferred from Dactylium dendroides subsp. Lichenicola P. Karst. The original simple description by Karsten (1877) included characteristics such as conidia size 25–36 × 9–12 μm, with a thickened base and an apiculate apex. Hawksworth (1977b) provided a monograph of Lichenoconium, discussing the genus and describing ten species. According to Hawkswroth, this genus is characterized by pycnidia with an irregular opening rather than a well-defined ostiole, distinguishing it from Coniothyrium. The conidiogenous cells are essentially phialidic, percurrently proliferate, and produce annellide-like conidiogenous cells. Conidia arise singly from the apices of conidiogenous cells, become pigmented prior to separation, are non-septate, brown, and generally not evidently guttulate. The conidial size proved to be of major taxonomic value (Hawksworth 1977b).
Christ (1956) described a new species, Lichenoconium xanthoriae M.S. Christ., found on Xanthoria polycarpa (Hoffm.) Rieber also reported on Caloplaca, Cetraria, Cetrelia, Heterodermia, Melanelia, Physcia, and Teloschistes. Hawksworth (1979a) introduced a combination, Lichenoconium lecanorae (Jaap) D. Hawksw., which was transferred from Coniosporium lecanorae Jaap. Diederich (1986) described a new species, Lichenoconium reichlingii Diederich, which grows on the fruticose lichen Ramalina. Kondratyuk et al. (1994, 1995b) published two new species, Lichenoconium plectocarpoides, on Pseudocyphellaria, and Lichenoconium follmannii S. Y. Kondr. & D. J. Galloway, growing on Lobaria pulmonaria. Kalb et al. (1995b) introduced one new species, Lichenoconium laevisporum Kalb & Hafellner, which grows on Haematomma stevensiae R.W. Rogers. Alstrup et al. (1998) described a new species, Lichenoconium edgewoodensis Alstrup & M. S. Cole, which grows on Parmelia sulcata Taylor.
Into the 21 century, three species have been introduced: Lichenoconium christiansenii M.S. Cole & D. Hawksw., found on Nodobryoria rgentina (Müll. Arg.) Common & Brodo, Lichenoconium aeruginosum Diederich, M. Brand, van den Boom & Lawrey, which grows on the lichen host Cladonia pocillum (Ach.) O.J. Rich., and Lichenoconium hawksworthii Flakus, Etayo, Kukwa & Rodr. Flakus, growing on Heterodermia comosa (Eschw.) Follmann & Redón (Cole et al. 2004, Lawrey et al. 2011, Wijayawardene et al. 2021). To date, there are 17 species in this genus, and Genbank contains 16 sequences belonging to the LSU, ITS, and mtSSU genes.
Type species: Lichenoconium lichenicola (P. Karst.) Petr. & Syd.
= Dactylium dendroides subsp. Lichenicola P. Karst.
Other accepted species: Species Fungorum – search Lichenoconium
Figure 1 – Lichenoconium lichenicola redrawn from Hawksworth (1977b). a Conidiogenous cells and conidia. b conidia. Scale bar = 10 μm.
References
Alstrup V, Cole MS. 1998 – Lichenicolous Fungi of British Columbia. The Bryologist 101 (2), 221–229.
Christiansen MS. 1956 – A New Species of the Form-Genus Lichenoconium Petr. and Syd.[Fungi Imperfecti] L. Xanthoriae sp. N. Friesia 5, 212–217.
Hawksworth DL. 1979a – The lichenicolous hyphomycetes. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Botany 6 (3), 183–300.
Kondratyuk SY, Galloway D, Hawksworth D. 1994 – Unguiculariopsis ahtii, and some other new lichenicolous fungi from Pseudocyphellaria. Acta Botanica Fennica 150, 93–97.
Kondratyuk SY, Galloway D. 1995b – Some new species of lichenicolous fungi. Bibl. Lichenol. 58, 235–244.
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 16 June 2026