The genus Mycomicrothelia Keissl. was reintroduced by Hawksworth (1985) in a revision of the genus Microthelia, accepting 26 species; later on, many other species were added to the genus, mainly from tropical areas. The genus has been substantially reduced in size by Hongsanan & al. (2020) with the segregation of several species in the genera Bogoriella Zahlbr. and Pseudobogoriella Lücking, R. Miranda & Aptroot. Presently it includes c. 10 corticolous species in the Arthopyreniaceae, with the highest diversity in the tropics. It is closely related to Arthopyrenia, from which it differs in the ascospores with warted walls turning brown at maturity within the ascus. Most species are host-specific and non-lichenised, but occasional associations with trentepohlioid algae were reported for some species, so that the genus is traditionally treated also by lichenologists. The present key includes the 3 species known from Italy (Nimis 2016), 2 further species known from the Alps outside Italy whose presence there is possible (Nimis & al. 2018), plus a species of Pseudobogoriella which could also occur in the country, for a total of 6 species.

References

Hawksworth D.L. 1985. A redisposition of the species referred to the ascomycetes genus Microthelia. Bull. Brit. Mus. Nat. Hist. Bot., 14: 43-181.
Hongsanan S., Hyde K.D., Phookamsak R., Wanasinghe D.N. & al. 2020. Refined families of Dothideomycetes: Orders and families incertae sedis in Dothideomycetes. Fungal Diversity, 105, 17–318.
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 checklist. MycoKeys, 31: 1-634.

Last modified: June, 17, 2023

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