Fungalpedia – Note 2684, Microcalicium

 

Microcalicium Vain. 

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

Index Fungorum, Faceoffungi, MycoBank, GenBank.

Classification: Microcaliciaceae, Pertusariales, Ostropomycetidae, Lecanoromycetes, Pezizomycotina, Ascomycota, Fungi.

Microcalicium was introduced by Vainio (1927) to accommodate the type species M. disseminatum, which was originally classified as Cyphelium disseminatum Ach. Initially described as a fungus growing on fallen Abies trunks, it was later noted by Clauzade et al. (1989) that M. arenarium occurs on the thallus of Psilolechia, while M. conversum and M. disseminatum are found on various species of Caliciales. These three species were subsequently included in the list of lichenicolous fungi by Diederich et al. (2018a). The remaining three species in this genus are all found on wood. 

Lumbsch (2007) placed Microcalicium within Ascomycota as families incertae sedis. Prieto et al. (2013) conducted a phylogenetic analysis, finding that Microcalicium is closely related to three Pertusaria species, forming a clade within Agyriales (Ostropomycetidae), though they raised questions regarding the clarity of Agyriales. Wijayawardene et al. (2018) placed Microcalicium in Taphrinales, later reassigning it to Pertusariales by Wijayawardene et al. (2020). This placement has since been confirmed by subsequent phylogenetic analyses based on sequence dataset (mtSSU, LSU and ITS) by Holien et al. (2022).

Type species: Microcalicium disseminatum (Ach.) Vain.

=Cyphelium disseminatum Ach.

Other accepted species: Species Fungorum – search Microcalicium

 

References

Clauzade G, Roux C. 1985 – Likenoj de Okcidenta Eŭropo. Ilustrita determinlibro, 1–893.

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.

Holien H, Frisch A. 2022 – Microcalicium loraasii, a new calicioid fungus from old-growth boreal forest in Norway. Graphis Scripta 34, 42–50.

Lumbsch HT, Huhndorf SM. 2007 – Outline of Ascomycota—2007. Myconet 13, 1–58.

Prieto M, Baloch E, Tehler A, Wedin M. 2013 – Mazaedium evolution in the Ascomycota (Fungi) and the classification of mazaediate groups of formerly unclear relationship. Cladistics 29 (3), 296–308.

Vainio EA. 1927 – Lichenographia Fennica III. Coniocarpeae. Acta Societatis pro Fauna et Flora Fennica 57, 1–138.

Wijayawardene NN, Hyde K, Al-Ani L, Tedersoo L et al. 2020 – Outline of Fungi and fungus-like taxa. Mycosphere 11 (1), 1060–1456.

Wijayawardene NN, Hyde KD, Lumbsch HT, Liu JK et al. 2018 – Outline of Ascomycota: 2017. Fungal Diversity 88 (1), 167–263.

 

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 8 July 2026

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