Fungalpedia – Note 3287, Lichinomycetes
Lichinomycetes V. Reeb, Lutzoni & Cl. Roux, Mol. Phylogen. Evol. 32(3): 1055 (2004).
Citation when using this data: Wijayawardene NN et al. 2024 – Fungalpedia.
Index Fungorum, Faceoffungi, MycoBank, GenBank, Fig 1.
Classification: Pezizomycotina, Ascomycota, Dikarya, Fungi.
Notes: The class Lichinomycetes was until recently regarded as one of the smaller classes of the Phylum Ascomycota, including only some ascomycetes that are lichenized with cyanobacteria (Díaz-Escandón et al. 2022). The study by Díaz-Escandón et al. (2022) however showed that several other fungal classes with widely varying life modes cluster in the clade of Lichinomycetes. It regards the (former) classes Candelariomycetes, Coniocybomycetes, Geoglossomycetes, Sareomycetes, and Xylonomycetes, all of which have to be subsumed into the Lichinomycetes following this study.
Based on Lücking et al. (2017), Díaz-Escandón et al. (2022), and Wijayawardene et al. (2022a), the class comprises 7 orders, 13 families, around 75 genera, and around 600 species.
The members of the Lichinomycetes are distributed over a broad range of ecosystems. They are most conspicuous in desert ecosystems, where they cover vast areas of rock and soil. In all other ecosystems, they are present but less conspicuously. As with almost every group, they are most diverse in the tropics (Schumm and Aptroot 2023).
The main use of Lichinomycetes is that they are often a component of soil crusts in desert environments.
Type order: Lichinales Henssen & Büdel, in Eriksson & Hawksworth, Syst. Ascom. 5(1): 138 (1986).
Type family: Lichinaceae Nyl., Mém. Soc. Sci. nat. Cherbourg 2: 8 (1854).
Type genus: Lichina C. Agardh, Syn. Alg. Scand.: xii, 9 (1817).
Type species: Lichina pygmaea (Lightf.) C. Agardh, Syn. Alg. Scand.: xii, 9 (1817).
= Candelariomycetes Voglmayr & Jaklitsch, in Voglmayr, Fournier & Jaklitsch, Persoonia 42: 41 (2018).
= Coniocybomycetes M. Prieto & Wedin, Cladistics 39(3): 305 (2013).
= Geoglossomycetes Zheng Wang, C.L. Schoch & Spatafora, Persoonia 22: 131 (2009).
= Sareomycetes Beimforde, A.R. Schmidt, Rikkinen & J.K. Mitch., Fungal Systematics and Evolution 6: 33 (2020).
= Xylonomycetes Gazis & P. Chaverri, in Gazis, Miądlikowska, Lutzoni, Arnold & Chaverri, Mol. Phylogen. Evol. 65(1): 301 (2012).
Other accepted species: Species Fungorum – search Lichinomycetes.
Figure 1 – Digitothyrea polyglossa. a,b habitus on rock. c-f sections through the thallus. Pictures by F. Schumm.
References
Schumm F, Aptroot A. 2023 – Images of Lichinaceae. Books on Demand, Norderstedt, pp 320.
Entry by
Nalin N. Wijayawardene, Center for Yunnan Plateau Biological Resources Protection and Utilization, College of Biological Resource and Food Engineering, Qujing Normal University, Qujing, Yunnan 655011, P.R. China, Tropical Microbiology Research Foundation, 96/N/10, Meemanagoda Road, 10230 Pannipitiya, Sri Lanka, Department of Bioprocess Technology, Faculty of Technology, Rajarata University, Sri Lanka
Published online 25 September 2026