The genus Pyrenocollema Reinke has been in common use over the past 30 years for pyrenocarpous lichens of soil and intertidal, freshwater and terrestrial rocks with a cyanobacterial photobiont, a densely pigmented, cellular exciple, anastomosing pseudoparaphyses, and obpyriform or obclavate, fissitunicate asci containing 1-septate ascospores. However, because the type species of Pyrenocollema was found to be a parasite of Nostoc with a different and distinctive ascomatal anatomy, Collemopsidium was recognised as a more appropriate genus for the species formerly attributed to Pyrenocollema (Grube & Ryan 2002). The genus, which includes c. 18 species, is now placed in the family Xanthopyreniaceae, of uncertain position within the Dothideomycota (Pérez-Ortega & al. 2016). A key to the species of northwestern Europe is provided by Mohr & al. (2004). According to Perez-Ortéga (in litt.), preliminary results suggest that the diversity of marine species has been largely underestimated: all Mediterranean samples analysed so far represent new species, which are often hardly distinguishable morphologically. Good descriptions and a key to the British species are in Orange (2013b).
The present key includes the 5 species known from Italy (Nimis 2016) plus 2 species whose presence in Italy is likely.

References

Grube M., Ryan B.D. 2002. Collemopsidium. In: Lichen Flora of the Greater Sonoran Desert Region, 1: 162-164.
Mohr F., Ekman S., Heegaard E. 2004. Evolution and taxonomy of the marine Collemopsidium species (lichenized Ascomycota) in north-west Europe. Mycol. Res., 108, 5: 515-532.
Nimis P.L. 2016. The Lichens of Italy. A Second Annotated Catalogue. EUT, Trieste, 739 pp.
Orange A. 2013b. British and Other Pyrenocarpous Lichens. Vers. II. August 2013. https://museum.wales/.../Orange-A-2013-British-and-other-pyrenocarpous-lichens.pdf
Pérez-Ortega S., Garrido-Benavent I., Grube M., Rocío O., de los Ríos A. 2016. Hidden diversity of marine borderline lichens and a new order of fungi: Collemopsidiales (Dothideomyceta). Fungal Divers. DOI 10.1007/s13225-016-0361-1

Last modified: December, 11, 2024

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