Viridothelium
Viridothelium Lücking, M.P. Nelsen & Aptroot, in Lücking et al., Lichenologist 48(6): 758 (2016).
Index Fungorum number: IF 816877; Facesoffungi number: FoF 08826, 11 morphological species (Species Fungorum 2022), 3 species with molecular data.
= ? Exiliseptum R.C. Harris, Acta Amazonica 14(1–2, Suppl.): 65 (1986) [1984]. Type species: Exiliseptum ocellatum (Müll. Arg.) R.C. Harris, Acta Amazonica 14(1–2, Suppl.): 66 (1986) [1984].
Lichenized on bark in terrestrial, mainly lowland to lower montane tropical to temperate forest habitats. Thallus distinctly corticate, yellow-brown to olive-green. Photobiont Trentepohlia. Sexual morph: Ascomata solitary to aggregated or diffusely pseudostromatic, immersed to erumpent, brown-black but usually covered by thallus layer except for ostiolar area, coriaceous to carbonaceous, ostiolate, ostiole apical to lateral, sometimes fused. Excipulum prosoplectenchymatous, brownish. Hamathecium comprising 0.5–0.7 µm wide paraphysoids, hyaline, straight, branched and anastomosing, embedded in a thick, gelatinous matrix. Asci 4–8-spored, bitunicate, fissitunicate, clavate to oblong, short pedicellate, with a non-amyloid ocular chamber. Ascospores irregularly arranged to biseriate, oblong-fusiform, hyaline, septate to rarely muriform, with slightly thickened distoseptate and more or less rectangular lumina, smooth-walled, not constricted at the septa, often with a gelatinous sheath. Asexual morph: Pycnidia rare, immersed to erumpent, visible as black dots. Conidia aseptate, bacillar, hyaline. Chemistry: orange anthraquinone known from one species (adapted from Lucking et al. 2016, Hongsanan et al. 2020b).
Type species: Viridothelium virens (Tuck. ex Michener) Lücking, M.P. Nelsen & Aptroot
Notes: Viridothelium is characterised by non-astrothelioid, I+ weakly amyloid ascospores (Aptroot and Lücking 2016; Aptroot et al. 2016a, b; Lücking et al. 2016). Viridothelium superficially resembles Astrothelium but is phylogenetically distant. Viridothelium morphologically differs from Astrothelium in having subdistoseptate ascospores resembling those of Trypethelium sensu stricto Hongsanan et al. (2020b) re-examined the type specimen of Exiliseptum ocellatum and suggested that Exiliseptum might be congeneric with Viridothelium and it can be an early epithet for that genus. Hongsanan et al. (2020b) listed Exiliseptum under Viridothelium but suggested further collection and re-examination of the type or authentic specimen are needed to confirm this relationship. Molecular markers available for Viridothelium are ITS, LSU, RPB2 and mtSSU.
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