Melaspilea
Melaspilea Nyl., Act. Soc. linn. Bordeaux 21(4): 416 (1857) [1856].
= Eremithallus Lücking, Lumbsch & L. Umaña, in Lücking et al., Symbiosis 46(3): 163 (2008). Type species: Eremithallus costaricensis Lücking, Lizano & Chaves, in Lücking, Lumbsch, Di Stéfano, Lizano, Carranza, Bernecker, Chaves & Umaña, Symbiosis 46(3): 163 (2008)
Index Fungorum number: IF 3094; Facesoffungi number: FoF 07676, 37 morphological species (Species Fungorum 2021), 3 species with molecular data.
Lichenized. Thallus thin, white, corticolous, with Trentepohlia photobiont. Sexual morph: Ascomata apothecioid, immersed when young, erumpent to superficial when mature, with a fat to slightly convex disk and a slightly elevated margin, often surrounded by marginal lobes from the substrate, roundish. Peridium reddish brown, K+ olivaceous brown at exciple issue, with a I- hymenium, apically not enlarged, cellular pseudoparaphyses that are sometimes branched or anastomosed, anastomosed periphyses arising from the inner excipular layer. Asci 6–8-spored, elongate or clavate to subcylindrical, wall apically thickened, with a distinct ocular chamber, I- and K/I-. Ascospores overlapping, 2-seriate, ellipsoid to oblong, hyaline to brown, 1-septate, constricted near the septum, smooth-walled, sometimes K/ I+ blue gelatinous sheath. Asexual morph: Unknown (adapted from Hongsanan et al. 2020b).
Type species: Melaspilea arthonioides (A. Massal.) Nyl.
Notes: Melaspilea was introduced by Nylander (1857) with M. arthonioides as type species. Melaspilea traditionally accommodated species with crustose lichens with lirelliform apothecia and brown, uniseptate ascospores. Melaspilea sensu stricto resembles Eremithallus in ascomata, exciple, hamathecium, ascus and ascospores characters. Melaspilea also has similar ecology as Eremithallus mainly being lichenized with a trentepohlioid photobiont (Ertz & Diederich 2015). Ertz and Diederich (2015) reduced Eremithallus as a synonym of Melaspilea. This was followed by Wijayawardene et al. (2017) and Hongsanan et al. (2020b). Melaspilea as currently recognized is heterogeneous and in need of a thorough revision. Molecular data available for Melaspilea are LSU, SSU and RPB2.
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