The Lecanoromycetidae are a subclass of

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

in the class

Lecanoromycetes Lecanoromycetes is the largest class of lichenized fungi. It belongs to the subphylum Pezizomycotina in the phylum Ascomycota. The asci (spore-bearing cells) of the Lecanoromycetes most often release spores by rostrate dehiscence. The group is ...

. This subclass contains seven

orders Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * H ...

Description

The Lecanoromycetidae encompass a diverse array of

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a hybrid colony (biology), colony of algae or cyanobacteria living symbiotically among hypha, filaments of multiple fungus species, along with yeasts and bacteria embedded in the cortex or "skin", in a mutualism (biology), m ...

-forming fungi whose vegetative body (

thallus Thallus (: thalli), from Latinized Greek (), meaning "a green shoot" or "twig", is the vegetative tissue of some organisms in diverse groups such as algae, fungi, some liverworts, lichens, and the Myxogastria. A thallus usually names the entir ...

) can assume many forms, from crust-like films to leafy or shrubby growths. Their sexual fruiting bodies are almost always

apothecia An ascocarp, or ascoma (: ascomata), 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. As ...

—disc- to cup-shaped structures that sit on the thallus surface. In many genera the apothecium bears its own rim of thallus tissue (a ), while in others the margin is formed solely by the fruit-body wall. A few exceptional taxa develop , powdery piles of loose

spore In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual reproduction, sexual (in fungi) or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for biological dispersal, dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. Spores fo ...

s, but this is rare in the subclass. Inside the apothecium the spore sacs ( asci) are interwoven with slender sterile filaments called

paraphyses Paraphyses are erect sterile filament-like support structures occurring among the reproductive apparatuses of fungi, ferns, bryophytes and some thallophytes. The singular form of the word is paraphysis. In certain fungi, they are part of the f ...

. These paraphyses usually branch and swell at their tips, and their outermost layer (the ) often contains brownish pigments or gives a blue reaction when treated with

iodine Iodine is a chemical element; it has symbol I and atomic number 53. The heaviest of the stable halogens, it exists at standard conditions as a semi-lustrous, non-metallic solid that melts to form a deep violet liquid at , and boils to a vi ...

stain (abbreviated "J+"). Each ascus shows a single transparent wall under the light microscope, yet that wall is thickened, especially at the tip, where a cap-like apparatus with intricate channels helps discharge the spores; in a few lineages the wall is thin and soon disappears. The

ascospore In fungi, an ascospore is the sexual spore formed inside an ascus—the sac-like cell that defines the division Ascomycota, the largest and most diverse Division (botany), division of fungi. After two parental cell nucleus, nuclei fuse, the ascu ...

s themselves vary widely in size, shape and internal partitioning. Most members of the subclass are mutualistic lichens paired with simple, spherical

green algae The green algae (: green alga) are a group of chlorophyll-containing autotrophic eukaryotes consisting of the phylum Prasinodermophyta and its unnamed sister group that contains the Chlorophyta and Charophyta/ Streptophyta. The land plants ...

(protococcoid photobionts). A minority live on other lichens (

lichenicolous This glossary of mycology is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to mycology, the study of fungi. Terms in common with other fields, if repeated here, generally focus on their mycology-specific meaning. Related terms can be found ...

) or decompose dead wood in dry, sun-exposed habitats, acting as

saprobe Saprotrophic nutrition or lysotrophic nutrition is a process of chemoheterotrophic extracellular digestion involved in the processing of decayed (dead or waste) organic matter. It occurs in saprotrophs, and is most often associated with fungi ...

s rather than forming lichens.

Classification

According to ''2024 Outline of Fungi'', the Lecanoromycetidae consists of the following orders and families: *

Caliciales Caliciales is an order of mostly lichenized fungi in the class Lecanoromycetes. It consists of two families: Caliciaceae and Physciaceae, which together contain 54 genera and more than 1200 species. The order was circumscribed by American botanis ...

Caliciaceae The Caliciaceae are a family (taxonomy), family of mostly lichen-forming fungus, fungi belonging to the class (taxonomy), class Lecanoromycetes in the division (mycology), division Ascomycota. Although the family has had its classification chan ...

Physciaceae The Physciaceae are a family of mostly lichen-forming fungi belonging to the class Lecanoromycetes in the division Ascomycota. A 2016 estimate placed 19 genera and 601 species in the family. Description The Physiaceae family includes various ...

Lecanorales The Lecanorales are an order of mostly lichen-forming fungi belonging to the class Lecanoromycetes in the division Ascomycota. The order contains 26 families, 269 genera, and 5695 species. Families Suborder Lecanorineae * Biatorellacea ...

:* Biatorellaceae :*

Bruceomycetaceae Bruceomycetaceae is a small family of fungi in the order Lecanorales. It contains two genera, each of which contains a single species. Taxonomy The family was circumscribed by lichenologists Jouko Rikkinen and Alexander Roland Schmidt in 2016 t ...

Catillariaceae The Catillariaceae are a family of crustose lichens in the order Lecanorales. Species of this family have a widespread distribution, especially in temperate areas. The family was originally circumscribed by Austrian lichenologist Josef Hafellner ...

Cladoniaceae The Cladoniaceae are a family of lichen-forming fungi in the order Lecanorales, comprising about 560 species distributed amongst 18 genera. This family is one of the largest among lichen-forming fungi and is globally distributed, from Arctic t ...

Gypsoplacaceae Gypsoplacaceae is a family of lichenized fungi in the order Lecanorales. This is a monotypic family, containing the single genus ''Gypsoplaca'', which has a widespread distribution. The family and genus were described as new in 1990 by Norwegian ...

:* Haematommataceae :*

Lecanoraceae The Lecanoraceae are a family of lichen A lichen ( , ) is a hybrid colony (biology), colony of algae or cyanobacteria living symbiotically among hypha, filaments of multiple fungus species, along with yeasts and bacteria embedded in the c ...

Malmideaceae Malmideaceae is a family of crustose and corticolous lichens in the order Lecanorales. It contains eight genera and about 70 species. Taxonomy Malmideaceae was created in 2011 to accommodate a group of species, formerly placed in genus '' Malc ...

:* Megalariaceae :* Pachyascaceae :*

Parmeliaceae The Parmeliaceae is a large and diverse family of Lecanoromycetes. With over 2700 species in 71 genera, it is the largest family of lichen-forming fungi. The most speciose genera in the family are the well-known groups: '' Xanthoparmelia'' ( 82 ...

Pilocarpaceae The Pilocarpaceae are a family of crustose lichens in the order Lecanorales. The species of this family have a cosmopolitan distribution and have been found in a variety of climatic regions. Pilocarpaceae was circumscribed by Alexander Zahlbruck ...

Psilolechiaceae ''Psilolechia'' is a genus of four species of crustose lichens. It is the only member of Psilolechiaceae, a family (biology), family that was created in 2014 to contain this genus. Taxonomy The genus ''Psilolechia'' was established by Abramo Bar ...

Psoraceae The Psoraceae are a family of lichenized fungi in the order Lecanorales. The Austrian Botanist and Lichenologist Alexander Zahlbruckner first described the family in 1898. Species of this family have a widespread distribution. Genera This is a ...

Ramalinaceae The Ramalinaceae are a family of lichen-forming fungi in the order Lecanorales. First proposed by Carl Adolph Agardh in 1821, the family now comprises 63 genera and about 750 species. Ramalinaceae lichens exhibit diverse growth forms, includin ...

:* Ramboldiaceae :* Scoliciosporaceae :*

Sphaerophoraceae The Sphaerophoraceae are a family (biology), family of lichen-forming fungi in the order (biology), order Lecanorales. Species of this family have a widespread distribution, especially in southern temperate regions, with particular diversity in c ...

Tephromelataceae The Tephromelataceae are a family of lichenized fungi in the order Lecanorales. The family was circumscribed by Austrian lichenologist Josef Hafellner in 1984. Tephromelataceae comprises the genera '' Tephromela'', '' Calvitimela'', '' Mycoblast ...

Lecideales The Lecideales are an order of lichenized fungi in the class Lecanoromycetes. The order contains two families: the ''Lecideaceae'', which contains 29 genera and about 260 species, and Lopadiaceae ''Lopadium'' is a genus of lichen-forming fungi ...

Lecideaceae The Lecideaceae are a family (biology), family of lichen-forming fungi in the order Lecideales. It contains about 30 genus, genera and roughly 250 species. A major distinguishing characteristic of the family is the form of the ascomata, fruit ...

Lopadiaceae ''Lopadium'' is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the monotypic family Lopadiaceae, which is in the order Lecideales. The genus contains 12 species. These lichens form thin, crust-like growths made up of fine granules or tiny scale-like flakes ...

* Leprocaulales :* Leprocaulaceae *

Peltigerales Peltigerales is an order (biology), order of lichen-forming fungus, fungi belonging to the class (taxonomy), class Lecanoromycetes in the division (mycology), division Ascomycota. The taxonomy of the group has seen numerous changes; it was former ...

Coccocarpiaceae The Coccocarpiaceae are a family of lichen-forming in the order Peltigerales. There are three genera and about 60 species in the family. Species in this family have a widespread distribution, including boreal Boreal, northern, of the north. Deri ...

Collemataceae The Collemataceae are a family of mostly lichen-forming fungi in the order Peltigerales. The family contains twelve genera and about 325 species. The family has a widespread distribution. Taxonomy The family was circumscribed by Jonathan Carl Z ...

Koerberiaceae Koerberiaceae is a small family (biology), family of lichen-forming fungi in the order Peltigerales. It contains 3 genus, genera and 9 species. The family was proposed by Toby Spribille and Lucia Muggia in 2012, after molecular phylogenetic analy ...

Massalongiaceae ''Massalongiaceae'' is a small family of lichen-forming fungi in the order Peltigerales. It has three genera and seven species. Species in this family have cyanobacteria as their primary symbiotic partner ( cyanobiont), so they belong to the gro ...

Pannariaceae The Pannariaceae are a family of lichens in the order Peltigerales (suborder Collematineae). Species from this family have a widespread distribution, but are especially prevalent in southern temperate In geography, the temperate clima ...

Peltigeraceae The Peltigeraceae are a family of lichens in the order Peltigerales. The Peltigeraceae, which contains 15 genera and about 600 species, has recently (2018) been emended to include the families Lobariaceae and Nephromataceae. Many Peltigeraceae sp ...

:* Placynthiacee :*

Vahliellaceae ''Vahliella'' is a genus of nine species of lichen-forming fungi in the order Peltigerales. It is the only member of Vahliellaceae, a family circumscribed in 2010 to contain this genus. ''Vahliella'' was formerly placed in the family Pannariacea ...

Rhizocarpales The Rhizocarpales are an order of lichen-forming fungi in the subclass Lecanoromycetidae of the class Lecanoromycetes. It has two families, Rhizocarpaceae and Sporastatiaceae, which contain mostly crustose lichens. Taxonomy The order was ori ...

Rhizocarpaceae Rhizocarpaceae is a family of lichen-forming fungi; together with the family Sporastatiaceae it constitutes the order Rhizocarpales in the Ascomycota, class Lecanoromycetes. These lichens are primarily rock-dwellers that form thin, paint-like ...

:* Sporastatiaceae *

Teloschistales The Teloschistales are an order of mostly lichen-forming fungi belonging to the class Lecanoromycetes in the division Ascomycota. According to one 2008 estimate, the order contains 5 families, 66 genera, and 1954 species. The predominant photob ...

Brigantiaeaceae The Brigantiaeaceae are a family (biology), family of fungi in the order Teloschistales. Species in this family are lichenized with green algae, and are usually found growing on bark. References

Teloschistales Taxa described in 1982 Taxa ...

:* Megalosporaceae :*

Teloschistaceae The Teloschistaceae are a large family (biology), family of mostly lichen-forming fungi belonging to the class (taxonomy), class Lecanoromycetes in the division (botany), division Ascomycota. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, althoug ...

The family Helocarpaceae is of uncertain ordinal placement in the Lecanoromycetidae.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q144489 Lecanoromycetes Lichen subclasses Fungus subclasses Taxa described in 2007 Taxa named by Helge Thorsten Lumbsch