Fungalpedia – Note 2619, Lichenopeltella

 

Lichenopeltella Höhn. 

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

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

Classification: Microthyriaceae, Microthyriales, Dothideomycetes orders incertae sedis, Pezizomycotina, Ascomycota, Fungi

Lichenopeltella was introduced by Höhnel (1919) to accommodate the type species Lichenopeltella maculans (Zopf.) Höhn., which was previously known as Microthyrium maculans Zopf and was initially placed in Phacidiales. It is characterized by superficial ascomata inhabiting lichens, along with hyaline spores with two-celled (Höhnel 1919b). Müller et al. (1962) and von Arx et al. (1975) assigned Lichenopeltella to Leptopeltidaceae, which was recognized as one of three families in Microthyriales by Kirk et al. (2008). However, Lumbsch et al. (2010) disagreed with this classification and placed the genus in Microthyriaceae. Wu et al. (2011) placed Lichenopeltella in Trichothyriaceae, but without support by sequence data. Recently, one LSU sequence of Lichenopeltella pinophylla was obtained and used for the phylogenetic analysis. The result suggested that this species formed a clade with three other genera of Microthyriaceae (Le Renard et al. 2020). Therefore, we accept the placement of Lichenopeltella in Microthyriaceae.

To date, there are 40 lichenicolous species in this genus from Index Fungorum (2025), but only one sequence is available in GenBank.

Type species: Lichenopeltella maculans (Zopf) Höhn. 

Other accepted species: Species Fungorum – search Lichenopeltella.

Figure 1 – Lichenopeltella maculan redrawn from Wu et al. (2011). a Appearance of ascomata on the host surface. b Section of ascoma. c Asci. d Ascospores. Scale bars: a = 200 μm, b–d = 10 μm.

 

References

Höhnel F. 1919a – Vierte vorläufige Mitteilung mykologischer Ergebnisse (Nr. 305–398). Berichte der Deutschen Botanischen Gesellschaft 37, 107–115.

Höhnel F. 1919b – Fragmente zur Mykologie: XXIII. Mitteilung (Nr. 1154 bis 1188). Sitzungsber Akad Wiss Wien Math Naturwiss Kl Abt 1 (128), 535–625.

Kirk PM, Cannon PF, Minter DW, Stalpers JA 2008 – Dictionary of the Fungi. CABI Europe – UK, 1–771.

Le Renard L, Stockey RA, Upchurch G, Berbee ML. 2020 – A new epiphyllous fly-speck fungus from the Early Cretaceous Potomac Group of Virginia (125–112 Ma): Protographum luttrellii, gen. et sp. nov. Mycologia 112 (3), 504–518.

Lumbsch HT, Huhndorf SM. 2010 – Myconet Volume 14. Part one. Outline of Ascomycota—2009. Part two. Notes on ascomycete systematics. Nos. 4751–5113. Fieldiana Life Earth Science 1, 1–64.

Müller E, von Arx JA 1962 – Die Gattungen der didymosporen pyrenomyceten. Büchler, 11.

von Arx J, Müller E. 1975 – A re-evaluation of the bitunicate ascomycetes with keys to families and genera. Stud. Mycol. 9, 1–159.

Wu HX, Schoch CL, Boonmee S, Bahkali AH et al. 2011 – A reappraisal of Microthyriaceae. Fungal Diversity 51, 189–248.

 

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

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