Normandina is a small genus with only 4 species (3 of which occur in Europe), although Lücking & Moncada (2017) recovered three undescribed species morphologically similar to N. pulchella in material from North America and Colombia. The genus was confirmed in the Verrucariaceae by Muggia & al. (2010), thus ending long debates on the phylogenetic position of N. pulchella, which had been placed in e.g. Basidiomycetes and Fungi incertae sedis by some authors. These conflicting hypotheses depended on whether or not the perithecia were interpreted as ascomata of the lichen itself (e.g. Aptroot 1991), or of a lichenicolous fungus. A recent revision of crustose species by Orange (2022) showed that the epiphytic N. chlorococca is distinct from N. acroglypta, which occurs on mossy rocks.

References

Aptroot A. 1991. A conspectus of Normandina (Verrucariaceae, lichenized Ascomycetes). Willdenowia, 21: 263-267.
Lücking R. Moncada B. 2017. Dismantling Marchandiomphalina into Agonimia (Verrucariaceae) and Lawreymyces gen. nov. (Corticiaceae): setting a precedent to the formal recognition of thousands of voucherless fungi based on type sequences. Fungal Diversity, 84: 119-138.
Muggia L., Gueidan C., Grube M. 2010. Phylogenetic placement of some morphologically unusual members of Verrucariales. Mycologia, 102, 4: 835-846.
Orange A. 2022. The crustose species of Normandina (Verrucariaceae). Lichenologist, 54: 371-378.

Last modified: March, 12, 2024

Project Dryades, Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste - CC BY-SA 4.0