The Mycocaliciaceae are a

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

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 order

Mycocaliciales The Mycocaliciales are an order (biology), order of ascomycetous fungi within the subclass Mycocaliciomycetidae and within the class Eurotiomycetes (subphylum Pezizomycotina). References

Eurotiomycetes Ascomycota orders Taxa described i ...

, comprising seven

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 ...

and approximately 90

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

. Originally proposed in 1970 by Alexander Schmidt, the family is characterised by immersed

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 ...

, stalked brown or black

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

(fruiting bodies), and small cylindrical asci that release without forming a .

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 ...

studies have placed Mycocaliciaceae within the class

Eurotiomycetes Eurotiomycetes is a large class of ascomycetes with cleistothecial ascocarps within the subphylum Pezizomycotina, currently containing around 3810 species according to the Catalogue of Life. It is the third largest lichenized class, with more th ...

and led to the inclusion of taxa formerly classified in the Sphinctrinaceae. The family has a

fossil record A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

dating back at least 50 million years, with several specimens discovered in

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages *Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originatin ...

and

Bitterfeld amber Bitterfeld amber is amber found near the town of Bitterfeld in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. While visually similar to the better known Baltic amber and often historically considered to be redeposited Baltic amber, chemical analysis shows that it is dis ...

. Mycocaliciaceae genera include ''

Chaenothecopsis ''Chaenothecopsis'' is a genus of about 40 species of pin lichens in the family Mycocaliciaceae. Taxonomy The genus was circumscribed in 1927 by Finnish lichenologist Edvard August Vainio, with '' Chaenothecopsis rubescens'' assigned as the typ ...

'', ''

Mycocalicium ''Mycocalicium'' is a genus of fungi in the family Mycocaliciaceae. The genus was circumscription (taxonomy), circumscribed by Finnish lichenologist Edvard August Vainio in 1890. Species *''Mycocalicium chiodectonicola'' – Panama *''Mycocalic ...

'', and '' Phaeocalicium'', which exhibit a range of ecological roles from

saprobic 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 ...

parasitic Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The ent ...

relationships with their .

Taxonomy

Calicioid fungi are a heterogeneous assemblage of fungi sharing the presence of a , a structure in which loose masses of

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 accumulate and which then are passively disseminated. Before 1970, the presence of a mazaedium was considered to be the defining trait of the order Caliciales, historically considered to be a

monophyletic In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria: # the grouping contains its own most recent co ...

group. Mycocaliciaceae was

circumscribed In geometry, a circumscribed circle for a set of points is a circle passing through each of them. Such a circle is said to ''circumscribe'' the points or a polygon formed from them; such a polygon is said to be ''inscribed'' in the circle. * Circum ...

in 1970 by the lichenologist Alexander Schmidt. He showed that some of the genera that had been traditionally classified in the Caliciales had active spore dispersal rather than a mazaedium. He resurrected ''Chaenothecopsis'', ''Mycocalicium'' and ''Strongyleuma'', accepted ''Stenocybe'' and described the new genus ''Phaeocalicium''. The Mycocaliciaceae and the Sphinctrinaceae are the families in the order

Eurotiomycetes Ascomycota orders Taxa described i ...

, which was created in 2000 by

Leif Tibell Leif Tibell (born 16 November 1944) is a Swedish lichenologist and Emeritus Professor at the University of Uppsala. He is known for his expertise on calicioid lichens. He was awarded the Acharius Medal in 2012 for lifetime achievements in lich ...

and Mats Weden. Mycocaliciaceae was shown in several studies to belong to the class

. In 2005,

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 ...

analysis of

internal transcribed spacer Internal transcribed spacer (ITS) is the spacer DNA situated between the small-subunit ribosomal RNA (rRNA) and large-subunit rRNA genes in the chromosome or the corresponding transcribed region in the polycistronic rRNA precursor transcript. ...

DNA sequences suggested that the Sphinctrinaceae nested in the Mycocaliciaceae, and further, that some of the morphological features traditionally used to classify Mycocaliciales genera were found to be homoplasious. The 2022 "Outline of Fungi", a multi-authored compilation of fungal classification, places the Sphinctrinaceae in

synonymy A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

with the Mycocaliciaceae.

Description

The

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 ...

of Mycocaliciaceae species are immersed in the

substrate Substrate may refer to: Physical layers *Substrate (biology), the natural environment in which an organism lives, or the surface or medium on which an organism grows or is attached ** Substrate (aquatic environment), the earthy material that exi ...

, and often absent.

Ascomata An ascocarp, or ascoma (: ascomata), is the fruiting body (sporocarp (fungi), sporocarp) of an ascomycete phylum fungus. It consists of very tightly interwoven hyphae and millions of embedded ascus, asci, each of which typically contains four to ...

are stalked, brown or black, and topped by a head that is disc-like to somewhat spherical. Interascal tissue is absent in the

hymenium The hymenium is the tissue layer on the hymenophore of a fungal fruiting body where the cells develop into basidia or asci, which produce spores. In some species all of the cells of the hymenium develop into basidia or asci, while in oth ...

. The asci are small, cylindrical, thick-walled at least in the apex, and not evanescent at an early stage.

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 are

ellipsoidal An ellipsoid is a surface that can be obtained from a sphere by deforming it by means of directional scalings, or more generally, of an affine transformation. An ellipsoid is a quadric surface; that is, a surface that may be defined as the ze ...

to cylindrical in shape, pale to mid brown in colour, with walls that are smooth and thin. The ascospores are not released in a mazaedial mass.

Genera

The list of the genera in the Mycocaliciaceae includes

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : 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 name and ...

formerly classified in the Sphinctrinaceae. Following the genus name is the

taxonomic authority In biology, taxonomy () is the scientific study of naming, defining ( circumscribing) and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped into taxa (singular: taxon), and these groups are given ...

, year of publication, and the number of species: *'' Brunneocarpos'' – 1 sp. *''

'' – ca. 40 spp. *''

'' – 12 spp. *'' Phaeocalicium'' – 11 spp. *'' Pyrgidium'' – 3 spp. *'' Sphinctrina'' – ca. 9 spp. *'' Stenocybe'' – 14 spp.

Fossil record

The first

of a member of the Mycocaliciaceae was reported in 2000. The species, ''

Chaenothecopsis bitterfeldensis ''Chaenothecopsis'' is a genus of about 40 species of pin lichens in the family Mycocaliciaceae. Taxonomy The genus was circumscribed in 1927 by Finnish lichenologist Edvard August Vainio, with '' Chaenothecopsis rubescens'' assigned as the typ ...

'', was described and illustrated from

dating back to at least 20 million years ago. The similarity in

morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines *Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts *Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies, ...

to some extant East Asian species suggests that the genus had an ancient

Laurasian Laurasia () was the more northern of two large landmasses that formed part of the Pangaea supercontinent from around ( Mya), the other being Gondwana. It separated from Gondwana (beginning in the late Triassic period) during the breakup of Pan ...

distribution. Since then, several new calicioid fossil specimens have been discovered from

Baltic amber Baltic amber or succinite is amber from the Baltic region, home of its largest known deposits. It was produced sometime during the Eocene epoch, but exactly when is controversial. It has been estimated that this forested region provided the re ...

(50–35 million years ago). For example, in 2020, nine new fossils were reported. Of all reported calicioid fossils, six are assigned to ''

'' and one to '' Phaeocalicium''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q6947116 Eurotiomycetes Ascomycota families Taxa described in 1970