{{Short description|Genus of lichens}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2023}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = | taxon = Aspiciliopsis | authority = (Müll.Arg.) M.Choisy (1929) | type_species = ''Aspiciliopsis macrophthalma'' | type_species_authority = (Hook.f. & Taylor) B.de Lesd. (1931) | synonyms_ref = <ref name="Species Fungorum synonymy"/> | synonyms = *''Lecanora'' sect. ''Aspiciliopsis'' {{au|(Müll.Arg.) Zahlbr. (1928)}} *''Placodium'' sect. ''Aspiciliopsis'' {{au|Müll.Arg. (1884)}} | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = ''A. antarctica''<br /> ''A. macrophthalma'' }}
'''''Aspiciliopsis''''' is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Trapeliaceae.<ref name="CoL"/><ref name="Wijayawardene et al. 2022"/> It has two species, both of which occur in the Southern Hemisphere.
==Taxonomy== Swiss lichenologist Johannes Müller Argoviensis first proposed ''Aspiciliopsis'' as a section of the genus ''Placodium'' in 1884. Maurice Choisy promoted it to genus status in 1929.<ref name="Choisy 1929"/> The genus name refers to the ''Aspicilia''-like appearance of the apothecia, which are immersed in the thallus.<ref name="Galloway 2013"/>
In a 1997 publication, H. Thorsten Lumbsch suggested that there were no significant differences between ''Aspiciliopsis'' and ''Placopsis'', and thus he considered it unnecessary to retain ''Aspiciliopsis'' as a distinct genus.<ref name="Lumbsch 1997"/> Later molecular phylogenetics work ultimately showed that the type species of ''Aspiciliopsis'', ''A. macrophthalma'', as well as two species of ''Orceolina'', made up a distinct clade nested within ''Placopsis''.<ref name="Schmitt et al. 2003"/> This led to the resurrection of ''Aspiciliopsis'' as a monospecific genus distinct from both ''Orceolopsis'' and ''Placopsis''.<ref name="Galloway 2013"/>
==Description== The thallus of ''Aspiciliopsis'' is thick and crust-like, spreading irregularly and forming shallow lobes along its edges. The surface varies in colour from a pale olive-green to grey-green when wet, and a light pinkish white to grey-white or off-white when dry. The surface can be minutely roughened to {{lichengloss|papillate}} and usually has white {{lichengloss|pruina}} at the edges. It lacks isidia, pseudocyphellae, or soredia — types of vegetative reproduction structures commonly found in other lichens.<ref name="Galloway 2013"/>
The {{lichengloss|cortex}}, or outer layer of the lichen, is {{lichengloss|pseudoparenchymatous}}, comprising cells 10–15 μm in diameter. The medulla, or inner part, is thick and white. The lichen associates with a unicellular, {{lichengloss|chlorococcoid}} green alga for photosynthesis. In the thallus, there are {{lichengloss|cephalodia}} that are flush with the thallus surface, minutely wrinkled to irregularly or radially cracked. These cephalodia are home to cyanobacteria, specifically either ''Nostoc'' or ''Scytonema'' species.<ref name="Galloway 2013"/>
The ascomata, or reproductive structures of the lichen, are innate and prominent. The {{lichengloss|disc}} is reddish-pink when moist and dark red-brown to black when dry. The {{lichengloss|thalline margin}}, a collar of thalline tissue, separates from the disc by a narrow to gaping crack. The {{lichengloss|proper margin}} is lighter than the disc, up to 35 μm thick, and made up of hyaline, thin-walled hyphae up to 3 μm in diameter. The hymenium, or layer of the ascocarp where spores are produced, is colourless and typically measures 150–230 μm tall. The {{lichengloss|paraphyses}}, sterile cells interspersed among the asci, are slender and occasionally branch and anastomose, with slightly thickened tips. The asci are cylindrical, ''Trapelia''-type, with a thin amyloid wall and without apical amyloid structures, containing eight spores. {{lichengloss|Ascospores}} are arranged in a single row within the ascus and are simple, broadly ellipsoidal, colourless, and thin-walled.<ref name="Galloway 2013"/>
Conidiomata, structures that produce asexual spores called conidia, are immersed in the thallus and measure 250–275 by 130–150 μm in diameter. Their ostioles are small, slightly depressed, and range from pale to dark red-brown in colour. The conidiophores are of the ''Roccella''-type.<ref name="Galloway 2013"/>
Lichen products that occur in ''Aspiciliopsis'' are 5-''O''-methylhiascic acid, gyrophoric acid, hiascic acid, and lecanoric acid.<ref name="Galloway 2013"/>
==Species== *''Aspiciliopsis antarctica'' {{au|(Müll.Arg.) C.W.Dodge (1948)}} *''Aspiciliopsis macrophthalma'' {{au|(Hook.f. & Taylor) B.de Lesd. (1931)}}
==References== {{Reflist|refs=
<ref name="Choisy 1929">{{cite journal |last1=Choisy |first1=M. |year=1929 |title=Genres nouveaux pour la lichénologie dans le groupe des Lecanoracées |trans-title=Genera new to lichenology in the Lecanoraceae group |journal=Bulletin de la Société Botanique de France |volume=76 |issue=3 |pages=521–527 |doi=10.1080/00378941.1929.10837179 |language=fr|doi-access=free }}</ref>
<ref name="CoL">{{Catalogue of Life |id=342Q |title=''Aspiciliopsis'' |access-date=3 July 2023}}</ref>
<ref name="Galloway 2013">{{cite journal |last=Galloway |first=David J. |title=The lichen genera ''Aspiciliopsis'', and ''Placopsis'' (Trapeliales: Trapeliaceae: Ascomycota) in New Zealand |journal=Phytotaxa |volume=120 |issue=1 |year=2013 |doi=10.11646/phytotaxa.120.1.1 |page=25}}</ref>
<ref name="Lumbsch 1997">{{cite journal |last1=Lumbsch |first1=H.T. |year=1997 |title=Systematic studies in the suborder Agyriineae (Lecanorales) |journal=Journal of the Hattori Botanical Laboratory |volume=83 |pages=1–73 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279547855}}</ref>
<ref name="Schmitt et al. 2003">{{cite journal |last1=Schmitt |first1=Imke |last2=Lumbsch |first2=H. Thorsten |last3=Søchting |first3=Ulrik |title=Phylogeny of the lichen genus ''Placopsis'' and its allies based on Bayesian analyses of nuclear and mitochondrial sequences |journal=Mycologia |volume=95 |issue=5 |year=2003 |doi=10.1080/15572536.2004.11833042 |pages=827–835|pmid=21148990 |s2cid=40985479 }}</ref>
<ref name="Species Fungorum synonymy">{{cite web |title=Synonymy. Current Name: ''Aspiciliopsis'' (Müll. Arg.) M. Choisy, Bull. Soc. bot. Fr. 76: 526 (1929) |url=https://www.speciesfungorum.org/Names/SynSpecies.asp?RecordID=395 |publisher=Species Fungorum |access-date=3 July 2023}}</ref>
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{{Taxonbar|from=Q21221987}}
Category:Baeomycetales Category:Baeomycetales genera Category:Taxa described in 1884 Category:Lichen genera Category:Taxa named by Johannes Müller Argoviensis