Abrothallus

Abrothallus
parasitic Abrothallus parmeliarum on Parmelia saxatilis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Ascomycota
Class: Dothideomycetes
Order: Abrothallales
Pérez-Ort. & Suija (2013)
Family: Abrothallaceae
Pérez-Ort. & Suija (2013)
Genus: Abrothallus
De Not. (1845)
Type species
Abrothallus bertianus
De Not. (1849)
Synonyms

Abrothallus is a genus of lichenicolous (lichen-dwelling) fungi. It is the only genus in the monotypic family Abrothallaceae, which itself is the sole taxon in the order Abrothallales. Species produce small, blackish, nearly spherical fruiting bodies on the surface of their host lichens, often dusted with green or yellow powder (pruina). About 44 species are accepted, most of them parasites of leafy or shrubby macrolichens.

Taxonomy

The genus was circumscribed by the Italian botanist Giuseppe De Notaris in 1849. The classification of the genus in either family or order was uncertain until molecular phylogenetic analysis revealed the group as an independent lineage in the class Dothideomycetes. Both the family and the order were circumscribed in 2013 by Sergio Pérez-Ortega and Ave Suija.

In 2012 Mikhail Zhurbenko proposed the genus Epinephroma to contain E. kamchatica; later analysis showed it to be the anamorph of an Abrothallus species, and now Epinephroma is placed in synonymy with Abrothallus. Other synonyms are Abrothallomyces, Phymatopsis, and Pseudo-lecidea.

Recent multigene studies have shown that host association has played an important role in the evolution of Abrothallus, but not in a simple one-host-group, one-lineage pattern. Species growing on Ramalina, for example, do not form a single clade, and A. bryoriarum, which grows on Bryoria, is more closely related to some Ramalina-associated species than to the main Parmeliaceae clade. This suggests that similar host-linked forms have evolved more than once within the genus. A 2026 revision of Ramalina-associated species showed that the traditional concepts of A. suecicus and A. ramalinae each include several genetically distinct lineages. That study described A. farinaceae as a new species on Ramalina farinacea and suggested that additional Ramalina-associated taxa remain undescribed.

Description

Species of Abrothallus are fairly uniform in overall appearance. They usually produce blackish, nearly spherical ascomata without a well-defined margin, often dusted with green or yellow pruina; bitunicate asci (with two functional wall layers) containing four to eight brown, 2- to 4-celled, warted, asymmetric ascospores; ramified-anastomosed paraphyses; and an epihymenium (the uppermost layer of the hymenium) with granulose pigments that often dissolve in potassium hydroxide. Species are distinguished mainly by microscopic characters such as ascospore size and septation, whether the spores split into part-spores, the number of spores in each ascus, pigmentation and chemical reactions in the ascomatal tissues, and host preference. Most species occur on foliose, fruticose, or pendulous macrolichens, and in some species only the pycnidial asexual state is known.

Ecology

Species of Abrothallus range from apparently mild lichen associates to clearly pathogenic parasites. In the more damaging species, infected parts of the host become blackened and brittle, the host tissues lose their normal internal structure, and both fungal hyphae and algal cells may collapse. This kind of damage has been documented in species growing on Ramalina and Bryoria.

Species

Abrothallus welwitschii growing on Sticta limbata in Portugal

As of March 2026, Species Fungorum (in the Catalogue of Life) accepts 46 species of Abrothallus:

References

  1. 1 2 "Synonymy: Abrothallus De Not., Abrothallus: 1 (1845)". Species Fungorum. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
  2. ↑ Wijayawardene, Nalin; Hyde, Kevin; Al-Ani, Laith Khalil Tawfeeq; Somayeh, Dolatabadi; Stadler, Marc; Haelewaters, Danny; et al. (2020). "Outline of Fungi and fungus-like taxa". Mycosphere. 11: 1060–1456. doi:10.5943/mycosphere/11/1/8. hdl:11336/151990.
  3. ↑ De Notaris, G. (1846). "Frammenti lichenografici di un lavoro inedito". Giornale Botanico Italiano (in Italian). 2 (1): 174–224 (see p. 192).
  4. ↑ Pérez-Ortega, Sergio; Suija, Ave; Crespo, Ana; de los Ríos, Asunción (2013). "Lichenicolous fungi of the genus Abrothallus (Dothideomycetes: Abrothallales ordo nov.) are sister to the predominantly aquatic Janhulales". Fungal Diversity. 64 (1): 295–304. doi:10.1007/s13225-013-0269-y.
  5. ↑ Zhurbenko, M.P.; Himelbrant, D.E.; Kuznetsova, E.S.; Stepanchikova, I.S. (2012). "Lichenicolous fungi from the Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia". The Bryologist. 115 (2): 295–312. doi:10.1639/0007-2745-115.2.295.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Suija, Ave; De los Ríos, Asunción; Pérez-Ortega, Sergio (2015). "A molecular reappraisal of Abrothallus species growing on lichens of the order Peltigerales". Phytotaxa. 195 (3): 201–226. doi:10.11646/phytotaxa.195.3.1.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Suija, Ave; Boom, Pieter van den; Berger, Franz; Suija, Mihkel; Thayer, John W.; Frisch, Andreas (2026). "Taxonomic investigation of Abrothallus (Abrothallales, Ascomycota) species associated with lichen genera Ramalina and Bryoria, including the description of a new species". Nordic Journal of Botany. 2026 (2) e05033. doi:10.1002/njb.05033.
  8. ↑ Suija, Ave (2006). "Variation of morphological characters in the lichenicolous ascomycete genus Abrothallus" (PDF). Annales Botanici Fennici. 43: 193–204.
  9. ↑ "Abrothallus". Catalogue of Life. Species 2000: Leiden, the Netherlands. Retrieved 30 October 2024.
  10. ↑ Diederich, Paul (1990). "New or interesting lichenicolous fungi 1. Species from Luxembourg". Mycotaxon. 37: 297–330.
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  12. ↑ Hafellner, J. (1994). "Beiträge zu einem Prodromus der lichenicolen Pilze Österreichs und angrenzender Gebiete. I. Einige neue oder seltene Arten". Herzogia (in German). 10: 1–28. doi:10.1127/herzogia/10/1994/1.
  13. 1 2 Kotte, I. (1909). "Einige neue Fälle von Nebensymbiose (Parasymbiose)". Centralblatt für Bakteriologie und Parasitenkunde. 2. Abth. (in German). 24: 74–93.
  14. ↑ Hawksworth, D.L. (1990). "Notes on British lichenicolous fungi: VI". Notes from the Royal Botanical Garden Edinburgh. 46: 391–403.
  15. ↑ Lindsay, W.L. (1867). "Observations on new lichens and fungi collected in Otago, New Zealand". Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 24 (2): 407–456. doi:10.1017/S0080456800018640.
  16. 1 2 Wedin, Mats (1994). "New and noteworthy lichenicolous fungi from southernmost South America". The Lichenologist. 26 (3): 301–310. doi:10.1006/lich.1994.1022.
  17. ↑ Suija, Ave; Pérez-Ortega, Sergio; Hawksworth, David L. (2010). "Abrothallus halei (Ascomycota, incertae sedis), a new lichenicolous fungus on Lobaria species in Europe and North America". The Lichenologist. 43 (1): 51–55. doi:10.1017/S002428291000054X.
  18. 1 2 Etayo, Javier (2017). Hongos liquenícolas de Ecuador. Opera Lilloana. Vol. 50. pp. 65, 70.
  19. 1 2 Etayo, Javier (2002). Aportación al conocimiento de los hongos liquenícolas de Colombia. Bibliotheca Lichenologica. Vol. 84. Berlin; Stuttgart: J. Cramer. p. 19. ISBN 978-3-443-58063-6.
  20. ↑ Etayo, J. (2010). "Hongos liquenícolas de Perú Homenaje a Rolf Santesson". Bulletin de la Société Linnéenne de Provence. 61: 2–46.
  21. ↑ Tulasne, L.-R. (1852). "Mémoire pour servir à l'histoire organographique et physiologique des Lichens". Annales des Sciences Naturelles Botanique. 3 (in French). 17: 5–128.
  22. ↑ Diederich, Paul (2011). "Description of Abrothallus parmotrematis sp. nov. (lichenicolous Ascomycota)". Bulletin de la Société des Naturalistes Luxembourgeois (in French). 112: 25–34.
  23. ↑ Diederich, Paul (2003). "Neue Arten und neue Funde von amerkanischen lichenicolen Pilzen". Herzogia (in German). 16: 41–90.
  24. ↑ Brackel, W.V.; Puntillo, D. (2016). "New records of lichenicolous fungi from Calabria (southern Italy), including a first checklist". Herzogia. 29 (2/1): 277–306. doi:10.13158/heia.29.2.2016.277.
  25. ↑ Diederich, P.; Lücking, R.; Aptroot, A.; Sipman, H.J.M.; Braun, U.; Ahti, T.; Ertz, D. (2017). "New species and new records of lichens and lichenicolous fungi from the Seychelles". Herzogia. 30 (1): 182–236. doi:10.13158/heia.30.1.2017.182.
  26. ↑ Hafellner, J.; Herzog, G.; Mayrhofer, H. (2008). "Zur Diversität von lichenisierten und lichenicolen Pilzen in den Ennstaler Alpen (Österreich: Steiermark, Oberösterreich)". Mitteilungen des Naturwissenschaftlichen Vereins für Steiermark (in German). 137: 131–204.
  27. ↑ Flakus, Adam; Etayo, Javier; Miadlikowska, Jolanta; Lutzoni, François; Kukwa, Martin; Matura, Natalia; Rodriguez-Flakus, Pamela (2019). "Biodiversity assessment of ascomycetes inhabiting Lobariella lichens in Andean cloud forests led to one new family, three new genera and 13 new species of lichenicolous fungi". Plant and Fungal Systematics. 64 (2): 283–344. doi:10.2478/pfs-2019-0022.
  28. ↑ Cole, M.S.; Hawksworth, D.L. (2001). "Lichenicolous fungi, mainly from the USA, including Patriciomyces gen. nov". Mycotaxon. 77: 305–338.
  29. ↑ Montagne, J.P.F.C. (1851). "Cryptogamia Guyanensis seu plantarum cellularium in Guyana gallica annis 1835–1849 a cl. Leprieur collectarum enumeratio universalis". Annales des Sciences Naturelles Botanique (in Latin). 16: 47–81.