Lepidostromatales is an

order 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 ...

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 Class, Classes, or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used d ...

Agaricomycetes The Agaricomycetes are a class of fungi in the division Basidiomycota. The taxon is roughly identical to that defined for the Homobasidiomycetes (alternatively called holobasidiomycetes) by Hibbett & Thorn, with the inclusion of Auriculariales ...

. It is the only known order of

basidiomycete Basidiomycota () is one of two large divisions that, together with the Ascomycota, constitute the subkingdom Dikarya (often referred to as the "higher fungi") within the kingdom Fungi. Members are known as basidiomycetes. More specifically, Basid ...

fungi composed entirely 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 ...

ized members. Morphologically, the fruiting bodies of all species are

clavarioid The clavarioid fungi are a group of fungi in the Basidiomycota typically having erect, simple or branched basidiocarps (fruit bodies) that are formed on the ground, on decaying vegetation, or on dead wood. They are colloquially called club fungi a ...

. Six species are known, five of which were described within the span of 2007–2013. Due to its morphological similarity to the genus ''

Multiclavula ''Multiclavula'' is a genus of basidiolichens in the family Hydnaceae. The widespread genus contains 14 species.Reschke, K., Lotz-Winter, H., Fischer, C.W., Hofmann, T.A., Piepenbring, M., 2021. New and interesting species of Agaricomycetes from ...

'', its isolated

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical dat ...

position (distinct from all other orders based on molecular data) was not understood until quite recently. The

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

s that have been found in association with members of this group are not known to associate with any other types of lichenized fungi.

Taxonomy

Members of Lepidostromatales closely resemble species of ''

'' because these groups share a combination of

fruiting bodies and

ized

thalli 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 ...

. The first species described in the order was originally described in the genus ''

Clavaria ''Clavaria'' is a genus of fungi in the family Clavariaceae. Species of ''Clavaria'' produce basidiocarps (fruit bodies) that are either cylindrical to club-shaped or branched and coral-like. They are often grouped with similar-looking species ...

'' due to the clavarioid fungal

fruiting body The sporocarp (also known as fruiting body, fruit body or fruitbody) of fungi is a multicellular structure on which spore-producing structures, such as basidia or asci, are borne. The fruitbody is part of the sexual phase of a fungal life cyc ...

, and was later transferred to ''Multiclavula'' (

Cantharellales The Cantharellales are an order (biology), order of fungi in the class (biology), class Agaricomycetes. The order includes not only the chanterelles (Cantharellaceae), but also some of the tooth fungi (Hydnaceae), clavarioid fungi (Aphelariaceae ...

) due to the lichenized thallus. The group was first recognized as distinct on account of the small squamules (scale-like structures) that make up the thallus, and the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

Lepidostroma ''Lepidostroma'' is a genus in the family Lepidostromataceae (the only family within the fungal order Lepidostromatales). The genus is distinguished from all other lichenized clavarioid fungi (''Multiclavula'' (''Cantharellales''), '' Ertzia'' ...

'' was created as a result. With the addition of two more squamulose species discovered in

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

, this separation was not accepted and ''Multiclavula'' was again emended to include species with squamulose thalli. However,

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

analyses eventually confirmed ''Lepidostroma'' as a distinct lineage, Lepidostromataceae, unrelated to ''Multiclavula''. The recent discovery of three further species (for a total of six species), created an opportunity for more in-depth phylogenetic research, which confirmed the isolation of the family from all described orders. As a result, the group was raised to the rank of

(Lepidostromatales). Although the separation of this group from ''Multiclavula'' was originally based on thallus type, further research has demonstrated that members of the group actually have three distinct thallus types, one of which ('crustose-granulose') matches up with ''Multiclavula''. However, the

of Lepidostromatales is chlorococcoid instead of coccomyxoid (which is the type found in ''Multiclavula''), making the photobiont-type a reasonable diagnostic feature for the group. The three thallus types correlate with the current division of the group into three

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

: *''

Ertzia ''Ertzia'' is a monospecific genus in the family Lepidostromataceae (the only family within the fungal order Lepidostromatales). The sole species is ''Ertzia akagerae'', a basidiolichen. The genus was circumscribed in 2014 by Brendan Hodkinso ...

'' *''

Sulzbacheromyces ''Sulzbacheromyces'' is a genus of basidiolichens in the family (biology), family Lepidostromataceae (the only family within the fungi, fungal order (biology), order Lepidostromatales). The genus is distinguished from the other genera of Lepidost ...

Habitat and distribution

All known members of the order are

ized and grow on soil in

regions of

and the

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q16984369 Lepidostromatales Basidiomycota orders Lichen orders Taxa named by Robert Lücking Taxa described in 2013