Catillaria

Catillaria
Catillaria scotinodes
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Ascomycota
Class: Lecanoromycetes
Order: Lecanorales
Family: Catillariaceae
Genus: Catillaria
A.Massal. (1852)
Type species
Catillaria chalybeia
(Borrer) A.Massal. (1852)
Synonyms
  • Catillaria A.Massal. ex R.Sant. (1952)
  • Lecidea [unranked] Catillaria Ach. (1803)
  • Microlecia M.Choisy (1949)
  • Ulocodium A.Massal. (1855)

Catillaria is a genus of crustose lichens in the family Catillariaceae. The genus was circumscribed by Italian lichenologist Abramo Bartolommeo Massalongo in 1852. It is the type genus of Catillariaceae, which was circumscribed by Austrian lichenologist Josef Hafellner in 1984.

Description

Catillaria typically grows as a thin, crust-like layer (crustose) on various surfaces. The fungal body (thallus) can appear in several forms – it may be barely visible, cracked, warty, or divided into small polygonal areas called areoles. These lichens display various colours including white, grey, green, brown, or black, though some species that grow on other lichens may lack a visible thallus entirely.

Like all lichens, Catillaria represents a symbiotic partnership between a fungus and photosynthetic algae (known as the photobiont). In this genus, the algal partners are green algae, specifically from genera such as Dictyochloropsis, Myrmecia, or Trebouxia. The fungal portion lacks a protective outer layer (cortex) or has only a rudimentary one.

The reproductive structures (apothecia) are black and typically lack a powdery coating (pruina). They have a distinctive microscopic structure, including specialised cells called paraphyses that have abruptly swollen tips capped with dark brown pigmentation. The spore-producing cells (asci) typically contain eight spores, though occasionally up to 16, and show a characteristic blue reaction when treated with iodine-based stains. The spores themselves are colourless and divided into two cells by a single wall (septum), without any surrounding gelatinous sheath.

The genus can be distinguished from similar lichens by its combination of asci that turn blue with iodine, paraphyses with dark-capped swollen tips, two-celled spores without a gelatinous coating, and spore-producing cells arranged in chains. While the similar genus Halecania shares many of these features, it differs in having thick-walled spores with a distinct gelatinous coating and is not closely related based on genetic analysis. When analyzed chemically using thin-layer chromatography, these lichens do not show evidence of specialised lichen products.

Species

As of February 2025, Species Fungorum (in the Catalogue of Life) accept 53 species of Catillaria.

References

  1. ↑ "Synonymy: Catillaria A. Massal., Ric. auton. lich. crost. (Verona): 78 (1852)". Species Fungorum. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  2. ↑ Massalongo, A.B. (1852). Ricerche sull'autonomia dei licheni crostosi (in Italian). Verona: Dalla tipografia di A. Frizierio. p. 78.
  3. ↑ Hafellner, Josef (1984). "Studien in Richtung einer natürlichen Gliederung der Sammelfamilien Lecanoracae und Lecideaceae". Beihefte zur Nova Hedwigia (in German). 79: 241–371.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Cannon, P.; Orange, A.; Aptroot, A.; Coppins, B.; Fletcher, A.; Fryday, A.; Sanderson, N.; Simkin, J.; Van den Boom, P. (2022). Caliciales: Catillariaceae, including the genera Catillaria and Solenopsora. Revisions of British and Irish Lichens. Vol. 22. pp. 2–3.Open access icon
  5. ↑ "Catillaria". Catalogue of Life. Species 2000: Leiden, the Netherlands. Retrieved 8 February 2025.
  6. ↑ Räsänen, V. (1944). "Lichenes novi I". Annales Botanici Societatis Zoologicae Botanicae Fennicae "Vanamo". 20 (3): 1–34.
  7. ↑ Räsänen, V. (1949). "Lichenes Novi V". Archivum Societatis Botanicae Zoologicae Fennicae "Vanamo". 3: 178–188.
  8. ↑ van den Boom, Pieter P. G.; Alvarado, Pablo (2021). "Catillaria flexuosa (Catillariaceae), a new lichen species described from the Netherlands". The Lichenologist. 53 (2): 193–202. doi:10.1017/s0024282921000050.
  9. ↑ Kukwa, Martin; Czarnota, Paweł; Łubek, Anna (2017). "Three lichen species in Buellia, Catillaria, and Cheiromycina, new to Poland". Mycotaxon. 132 (1): 177–182. doi:10.5248/132.177.
  10. ↑ McCarthy, P.M.; Elix, J.A. (2017). "Five new lichen species (Ascomycota) and a new record from southern New South Wales, Australia". Telopea. 20: 333–353. doi:10.7751/TELOPEA12043.
  11. ↑ Fryday, Alan M.; Coppins, Brian J. (1996). "Three new species in the Catillariaceae from the Central Highlands of Scotland". The Lichenologist. 28 (6): 507–512. doi:10.1006/lich.1996.0048.
  12. ↑ Zhurbenko, Mikhail P.; Ohmura, Yoshihito (2020). "Contributions to the knowledge of lichenicolous fungi growing on baeomycetoid lichens and Icmadophila, with a key to the species". The Lichenologist. 52 (6): 437–453. doi:10.1017/S002428292000047X.
  13. ↑ Elix, J.A.; McCarthy, P.M. (2018). "Ten new lichen species (Ascomycota) from Australia". Australasian Lichenology. 82: 20–59.
  14. ↑ Coppins, Brian J.; Aptroot, André (2008). "New species and combinations in The Lichens of the British Isles". The Lichenologist. 40 (5): 363–374. doi:10.1017/S0024282908008165.
  15. ↑ Tretiach, M.; Hafellner, J. (1998). "A new species of Catillaria from coastal Mediterranean regions". The Lichenologist. 30 (3): 221–229. doi:10.1006/lich.1998.0126.
  16. ↑ Ren, Qiang; Zheng, Xiao-Jia (2018). "Rare or interesting lichen species new to China". Mycotaxon. 133 (3): 373–379. doi:10.5248/133.373.
  17. ↑ van den Boom, P.P.G. (2002). "A new isidiate species of Catillaria from the Netherlands". The Lichenologist. 34 (4): 321–325. doi:10.1006/lich.2002.0398.
  18. ↑ Waters, D.P.; Lendemer, J.C. (2019). "The Lichens and Allied Fungi of Mercer County, New Jersey". Opuscula Philolichenum. 18: 17–51 [43]. doi:10.5962/p.388258.
  19. ↑ Galun, Margalith (1967). "A new species of Catillaria from Israel". The Lichenologist. 3 (3): 423–424. doi:10.1017/S0024282967000441.
  20. ↑ Dodge, C.W.; Rudolph, E.D. (1955). "Lichenological notes on the flora of the Antarctic Continent and the subantarctic islands. I-IV". Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden. 42 (2): 131–149. Bibcode:1955AnMBG..42..131D. doi:10.2307/2394598. JSTOR 2394598.
  21. ↑ Boom, P.P.G. van den (2010). "Lichens and lichenicolous fungi from Lanzarote (Canary Islands), with the description of two new species". Cryptogamie, Mycologie. 31 (2): 183–199.
  22. ↑ Kondratyuk, S.Y.; Lőkös, L.; Halda, J.P.; Upreti, D.K.; Mishra, G. K.; Haji Moniri, M.; et al. (2016). "New and noteworthy lichen-forming and lichenicolous fungi 5" (PDF). Acta Botanica Hungarica. 58 (3–4): 319–396. doi:10.1556/ABot.58.2016.3-4.7.
  23. ↑ Jatta, A. (1911). "Lichenes lecti in Tasmania a W. Weymouth". Bolletino della Società Botanica Italiana (in Latin). 1911: 253–260.
  24. ↑ Etayo, J. (2000). "Aportación a la flora liquénica de las Islas Canarias. VI. Hongos liquenícolas de La Palma" [Contribution to the lichen flora of the Canary Islands. VI. Lichenicolous fungi of La Palma]. Bulletin de la Société Linnéenne de Provence. 51: 152–162 [155].
  25. ↑ Sérusiaux, E. (1983). "Foliicolous lichens From Zimbabwe". The Lichenologist. 15 (3): 283–287. doi:10.1017/S0024282983000419.