Verruculopsis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Verruculopsis | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Verruculopsis lecideoides | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Ascomycota |
| Class: | Eurotiomycetes |
| Order: | Verrucariales |
| Family: | Verrucariaceae |
| Genus: | Verruculopsis Gueidan, Nav.-Ros. & Cl.Roux (2007) |
| Type species | |
| Verruculopsis poeltiana (Clauzade & Cl.Roux) Gueidan, Nav.-Ros. & Cl.Roux (2007) | |
| Species | |
|
V. beltraminiana | |
Verruculopsis is a genus of saxicolous (rock-dwelling), crustose lichens in the family Verrucariaceae.[1][2] The genus was established in 2007 when DNA studies revealed that several species previously classified elsewhere actually formed their own distinct evolutionary group. Most species in the genus live as parasites on bright orange crustose lichens, though one species grows independently on rock surfaces without needing a host.
Verruculopsis was circumscribed as a new genus in 2007 by Cécile Gueidan, Pere Navarro-Rosinés, and Claude Roux, while disentangling the complex surrounding "Verrucaria" helveticorum. Their protologue formally introduced Verruculopsis with Verruculopsis poeltiana (originally Verrucaria poeltiana, 1984) designated as the type species. ITS-rDNA phylogenetic analysis presented in the same 2007 study demonstrated that the three placodioid parasites now placed in Verruculopsis—V. poeltiana, V. flavescentaria and V. irrubescentis—form a strongly supported clade that is sister to the rock-inhabiting genus Placopyrenium, not to Verrucula. This molecular evidence, together with their shared suite of characters (perithecial walls that grade from pale brown at the base to dark brown above, an iodine-negative medulla, and an obligate parasitism on anthraquinone-rich Caloplaca species or occasionally Rusavskia elegans), showed that Verrucula sensu lato was polyphyletic and justified recognition of Verruculopsis as a separate, monophyletic genus. A single free-living, saxicolous species, V. lecideoides, is interpreted as a non-parasitic remnant of the same lineage.[3]
