Pterygiopsis

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title: "Pterygiopsis" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["lichinomycetes", "lichinomycetes-genera", "lichen-genera", "taxa-named-by-edvard-august-vainio", "taxa-described-in-1890"] description: "Genus of lichen-forming fungi" topic_path: "general/lichinomycetes" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pterygiopsis" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Genus of lichen-forming fungi ::

| image = | image_caption = | taxon = Pterygiopsis | authority = Vain. (1890) | type_species = Pterygiopsis atra | type_species_authority = Vain. (1890) | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = | synonyms_ref = | synonyms = *Enchylium

• Forssellia
• Pterygiopsidomyces

Pterygiopsis is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Lichinaceae. It contains 12 species. These lichens form thin, blackish crusts that cling tightly to rock surfaces, especially in damp seepage zones or along stream margins, and develop pinpoint brown disc-like fruiting bodies on their surface. The genus is typically found in semi-aquatic to fully aquatic habitats, where the lichens lack distinct outer protective layers but have a slightly gelatinous texture when wet.

Taxonomy

The genus was circumscribed by the Finnish lichenologist Edvard August Vainio in 1890, to contain the single Brazilian species Pterygiopsis atra. Vainio distinguished Pterygiopsis from related genera based on the structure of the thallus, which lacks a distinct upper layer but possesses a lower cortical stratum formed by hyphae, and the characteristics of the apothecia and spores. The genus is characterised by having , colourless, ellipsoidal to subglobose spores and distinctive paraphyses that are loosely coherent and unbranched. Vainio noted the conidia as being spherical and resembling those of Stigonema, indicating the cyanobacterial nature of the .

Description

Pterygiopsis forms a thin, blackish crust that clings tightly to rock surfaces, especially in damp seepage zones or along stream margins. Because the lichen is crustose—essentially painted onto its substrate—it lacks root-like anchoring threads (rhizines). Under the microscope, the fungal filaments (hyphae) are built from broadly rounded cells that spread from the attachment point in a fan-shaped pattern, giving the interior a radiating appearance. Scattered through this fabric are clusters of the photosynthetic partner: minute, spherical green algae (described as ) each wrapped in a faint brown, jelly-like sheath. This arrangement leaves the thallus without a distinct outer skin () but lends it a slightly gelatinous texture when wet.

Fruit bodies (apothecia) develop on the thallus surface, starting partly embedded and becoming almost stalk-less () at maturity. They appear as pinpoint brown bordered by a low rim of thallus tissue composed of uniformly sized cells. The internal fungal wall () is so reduced that it can be hard to detect. Inside, the spore layer is embedded in jelly and threaded with paraphyses—slender, sometimes interconnected filaments whose tips swell and acquire an external brown pigment. Each spore sac (ascus) contains eight colourless, nearly spherical ascospores; the asci are thin-walled, stain reddish-brown in potassium iodide, and lack the thickened amyloid caps found in many other lichens. No asexual propagules or secondary lichen products are known to occur in the genus.

Ecology

Pterygiopsis is typically saxicolous and favours semi-aquatic to fully aquatic habitats.

Species

, Species Fungorum (in the Catalogue of Life) accepts 12 species of Pterygiopsis.

• Pterygiopsis atra
• Pterygiopsis australiensis
• Pterygiopsis cava
• Pterygiopsis concordatula
• Pterygiopsis convoluta
• Pterygiopsis coracodiza
• Pterygiopsis densisidiata
• Pterygiopsis guyanensis
• Pterygiopsis lacustris
• Pterygiopsis mutabilis
• Pterygiopsis pulchra
• Pterygiopsis umbilicata

References

References

1. (2023). "Lichinales: Lichinaceae and Peltulaceae, including the genera ''Cryptothele'', ''Ephebe'', ''Euopsis'', ''Lemmopsis'', ''Lempholemma'', ''Lichina'', ''Metamelanea'', ''Peltula'', ''Phylliscum'', ''Porocyphus'', ''Psorotichia'', ''Pterygiopsis'', ''Pyrenocarpon'', ''Pyrenopsis'', ''Synalissa'', ''Thermutis'' and ''Watsoniomyces''".
2. "''Pterygiopsis''".
3. (2020). "Two further new lichen species from the Atlantic Forest remnant Pedra Talhada (Alagoas, Brazil), with a species list". The Bryologist.
4. Jørgensen, P.M.. (1990). "The lichen genus ''Pterygiopsis'' in northern Europe". The Lichenologist.
5. (2007). "Nordic Lichen Flora".
6. Schultz, M.. (2004). "''Pterygiopsis pulchra'', a remarkable new species of the Lichinaceae from south-eastern Yemen". Bibliotheca Lichenologica.
7. (2000). "Diversity of rock-inhabiting cyanobacterial lichens: studies on granite inselbergs along the Orinoco and in Guyana". Plant Biology.
8. Schultz, Matthias. (2006). "''Pterygiopsis cava'' and ''P. mutabilis'' (Lichinaceae), two new species from southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico". The Bryologist.
9. Vainio, E.A.. (1890). "Étude sur la classification naturelle et la morphologie des Lichens du Brésil. Pars prima". Acta Societatis Pro Fauna et Flora Fennica.

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