''Endococcus hafellneri'' is a species of

lichenicolous A lichenicolous fungus is a parasitic fungus that only lives on lichen as the host. A lichenicolous fungus is not the same as the fungus that is the component of the lichen, which is known as a lichenized fungus. They are most commonly specific t ...

( lichen-eating)

fungus A fungus (plural, : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of Eukaryote, eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and Mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified ...

in the family

Verrucariaceae The Verrucariaceae are a family of mostly lichenised fungi in the order Verrucariales. The lichen-forming species, which comprise the vast majority of the family, have a wide variety of thallus forms, and include crustose (crust-like), foliose ( ...

. It is found in

North Asia North Asia or Northern Asia, also referred to as Siberia, is the northern region of Asia, which is defined in geographical terms and is coextensive with the Asian part of Russia, and consists of three Russian regions east of the Ural Mountai ...

and the

Russian Far East The Russian Far East (russian: Дальний Восток России, r=Dal'niy Vostok Rossii, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in Northeast Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asian continent; and is admin ...

, Estonia, and Japan, where it grows on the lobes of the lichens ''

Flavocetraria cucullata ''Flavocetraria'' is a genus of lichenized ascomycete fungi in the family Parmeliaceae. The genus contains two species found in arctic-alpine and boreal Boreal may refer to: Climatology and geography *Boreal (age), the first climatic phase of ...

'' and ''

Cetraria islandica ''Cetraria islandica'', also known as true Iceland lichen or Iceland moss, is an Arctic-alpine lichen whose erect or upright, leaflike habit gives it the appearance of a moss, where its name likely comes from. Description It is often of a pal ...

''.

Taxonomy

The fungus was formally described as a new species in 2009 by Mikhail Zhurbenko. He placed the species provisionally in the genus ''

Stigmidium ''Stigmidium'' is a genus of lichenicolous ( lichen-eating) fungi in the family Mycosphaerellaceae. The genus was circumscribed by Italian botanist Vittore Benedetto Antonio Trevisan de Saint-Léon in 1860, with ''Stigmidium schaereri'' assigned ...

'', but unlike all other species of that genus, the new fungus has coloured (brown)

ascospore An ascus (; ) is the sexual spore-bearing cell produced in ascomycete fungi. Each ascus usually contains eight ascospores (or octad), produced by meiosis followed, in most species, by a mitotic cell division. However, asci in some genera o ...

s. The

species epithet Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany) A botanical name ...

honours German lichenologist

Josef Hafellner Josef Hafellner (1951– ) is an Austrian mycologist and lichenologist. He was awarded the Acharius Medal in 2016 for his lifetime contributions to lichenology. Before his retirement, he was a professor at the Karl-Franzens-Universität in Gra ...

, "in recognition of his important contribution to the knowledge of lichenicolous fungi". In 2019, Zhurbenko transferred the

taxon In biology, a taxon ( back-formation from '' taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular n ...

to the ''

Endococcus ''Endococcus'' is a genus of lichenicolous (lichen-dwelling) in the family Lichenotheliaceae. It has 44 species. The genus was circumscribed by the Finnish botanist William Nylander in 1855. Although at least one source places the genus in the ...

''. Having had the opportunity to collect and observe more specimens, he noted the constancy of the coloured spores, and concluded that the traits of genus ''Endococcus'' are better aligned with the characteristics of the fungus.

Description

''Endococcus hafellneri'' produces

ascomata An ascocarp, or ascoma (), is the fruiting body ( sporocarp) of an ascomycete phylum fungus. It consists of very tightly interwoven hyphae and millions of embedded asci, each of which typically contains four to eight ascospores. Ascocarps are mo ...

with a perithecioid morphology–more or less rounded, with an

ostiole An ''ostiole'' is a small hole or opening through which algae or fungi release their mature spores. The word is a diminutive of "ostium", "opening". The term is also used in higher plants, for example to denote the opening of the involuted ...

. They are black and shiny and protrude slightly from the surface of the host lichen, measuring up to 50

μm The micrometre ( international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: μm) or micrometer (American spelling), also commonly known as a micron, is a unit of length in the International System of Uni ...

in diameter. Infection by the fungus causes grey and sometimes perforated patches in the host lichen up to across, sometimes with a dark greyish-brown rim around the margin of the patch.

Habitat and distribution

In Asian Russia, ''Endococcus hafellneri'' has been recorded from Buryatia,

Sakha Sakha, officially the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia),, is the largest republic of Russia, located in the Russian Far East, along the Arctic Ocean, with a population of roughly 1 million. Sakha comprises half of the area of its governing Far E ...

, the

Magadan Oblast Magadan Oblast ( rus, Магаданская область, r=Magadanskaya oblast, p=məgɐˈdanskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subject (an oblast) of Russia. It is geographically located in the Far East region of the country, and is admin ...

, and the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia (country), Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range ...

. It was reported from

Kihnu Kihnu is an island in the Baltic Sea. With an area of it is the largest island in the Gulf of Riga and the seventh largest island of Estonia. The length of the island is and width , the highest point is at above sea level. The island belon ...

island (Estonia) in 2015, and from

Hokkaido is Japan, Japan's Japanese archipelago, second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost Prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own List of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; th ...

, Japan, in 2019. Known hosts for the fungus are ''Flavocetraria cucullata'' and ''

''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q107652650 Verrucariales Fungi described in 2009 Fungi of Asia Fungi of Europe Lichenicolous fungi Taxa named by Mikhail Petrovich Zhurbenko Fungus species