The genus Leptorhaphis Körb., presently placed in the Naetrocymbaceae, was monographed by Aguirre-Hudson (1991), who confined Leptorhaphis s.str. to bark saprotrophs with affinities to Arthopyreniaceae (Dothideomycetes), transferring putatively lichenised species with thin-walled, unitunicate asci, true paraphyses and perithecial ascomata to the new genus Cresporhaphis, which was tentatively classified within the Trichosphaeriales in the Sordariomycetes (see also Aguirre & Hawksworth 1987). Being bark inhabitants, most of the species of Cresporhaphis were first described by lichenologists, and based on ascoma and ascospore characters, most of them were originally placed in Leptorhaphis. Voglmayr & al. (2019) studied these species also using molecular data, showing that they belong to the completely different genus Leptosillia, originally described as monotypic, based on L. notha (now a synonym of L. muelleri) in the Xylariales (in the new family Leptosilliaceae), Cresporhaphis and Liberomyces Höhn. being considered as a synonyms of Leptosillia.
Another species which in the past was included in Leptorhaphis is Celothelium ischnobelum, the genus Celothelium A. Massal., with c. 8 species, being most diverse in the tropics, where species are epiphytic on branches in rainforest and in coastal areas. Its status in the Celotheliaceae, as the sister group of the Pyrenulaceae, has been confirmed by molecular analyses (see e.g. Aptroot & al. 2008, Gueidan & al. 2014).
The present key includes all species of Celothelium, Leptorhaphis and Leptosillia known to occur in Italy (Nimis 2016), plus some species which are known from neighbouring countries and whose presence in Italy is possible (see e.g. Nimis & al. 2018), for a total of 14 species. Perhaps with the exception of Celothelium ischnobelum, most species are non-lichenized saprobes which only occasionally were found to be loosely associated with algae.

References

Aguirre-Hudson B. 1991. A taxonomic study of the species referred to the ascomycete genus Leptorhaphis. Bull. British Museum (Natural History), Bot. 21, 2: 85-192.
Aguirre B., Hawksworth D.L. 1987. The circumscription, biology and relationships of the genus Leptorhaphis Körber. Bibl. Lichenol.,25: 249-255.
Aptroot A., Lücking R., Sipman H.J.M., Umaña L., Chaves J.L. 2008. A first assessment of the Ticolichen inventory in Costa Rica: Pyrenocarpous lichens with bitunicate asci. Bibl. Lichenol., 97: 1-162.
Gueidan C., Aptroot A., Cáceres M.E.S., Badali H., Stenroos S. 2014b. A reappraisal of orders and families within the subclass Chaetothyriomycetidae (Eurotiomycetes, Ascomycota). Mycol. Prog. 13, 4: 1027-1039.
Nimis P.L. 2016. The lichens of Italy. A second annotated catalogue. EUT, Trieste, 740 pp.
Nimis P.L., Hafellner J., Roux C., Clerc P., Mayrhofer H., Martellos S., Bilovitz P.O. 2018. The Lichens of the Alps. An Annotated Catalogue. Mycokeys, 31: 1-634.
Voglmayr H., Aguirre-Hudson M.B., Wagner H.G., Tello S., Jaklitsch W.M. 2019. Lichens or endophytes? The enigmatic genus Leptosillia in the Leptosilliaceae fam. nov. (Xylariales), and Furfurella gen. nov. (Delonicicolaceae). – Persoonia, 42: 228-260.

Last modified: August, 11, 2021

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