{{Short description|Single-species lichen genus}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}} {{Speciesbox | image = Bellicidia incompta.jpg | parent_authority = Kistenich, Timdal, Bendiksby & S.Ekman (2018) | taxon = Bellicidia incompta | authority = (Borrer) Kistenich, Timdal, Bendiksby & S.Ekman (2018) | synonyms_ref = <ref name="Species Fungorum synonymy"/><ref name="Gerasimova et al. 2021"/> | synonyms = {{Collapsible list|bullets=on |''Lecidea incompta'' {{au|Borrer (1834)}} |''Biatora effusa'' var. ''incompta'' {{au|(Borrer) Fr. (1845)}} |''Biatora vernalis'' var. ''incompta'' {{au|(Borrer) Fr. (1845)}} |''Lecidea luteola'' var. ''incompta'' {{au|(Borrer) Nyl. (1857)}} |''Bacidia incompta'' {{au|(Borrer) Anzi (1860)}} |''Lecidea bacillifera'' f. ''incompta'' {{au|(Borrer) Nyl. (1861)}} |''Lecidea umbrina'' f. ''incompta'' {{au|(Borrer) Nyl. (1861)}} |''Secoliga atrosanguinea'' var. ''incompta'' {{au|(Borrer) Stizenb. (1863)}} |''Lecidea bacillifera'' var. ''incompta'' {{au|(Borrer) Nyl. (1866)}} |''Biatora rubella'' var. ''incompta'' {{au|(Borrer) Tuck. (1868)}} |''Bacidia bacillifera'' var. ''incompta'' {{au|(Borrer) Branth & Rostr. (1869)}} |''Biatora luteola'' var. ''incompta'' {{au|(Borrer) Tuck. (1872)}} |''Lecidea subincompta'' * ''incompta'' {{au|(Borrer) Stizenb. (1882)}} |''Biatora rubella'' subsp. ''incompta'' {{au|(Borrer) Tuck. (1888)}} |''Lecidea incompta'' var. ''spissa'' {{au|Shirley (1889)}} |''Bacidia incompta'' var. ''spissa'' {{au|(Shirley) Zahlbr. (1926)}} |''Lecidea subincompta'' {{au|Nyl. (1865)}} }} }}
'''''Bellicidia''''' is a fungal genus in the family Ramalinaceae.<ref name="CoL"/><ref name="Wijayawardene et al. 2022"/> It comprises the single species '''''Bellicidia incompta''''', a widely distributed corticolous (bark-dwelling) crustose lichen.
==Taxonomy==
''Bellicidia incompta'' was first formally described as a new species in 1834 by the English botanist William Borrer, who classified it in the genus ''Lecidea''.<ref name="Species Fungorum synonymy"/> Martino Anzi transferred the taxon to the genus ''Bacidia'' in 1860,<ref name="Anzi 1860"/> and it was largely known as ''Bacidia incompta'' in its taxonomic history, although several other authors in the 1800s were reluctant to consider it a unique species, and thought it was more appropriately classed as a subspecies, variety or form of other species.<ref name="Species Fungorum synonymy"/>
The name ''Lecidea subincompta'', previously considered a separate species, was determined to be a synonym of ''B. incompta'' based on examination of type material.<ref name="Gerasimova et al. 2021"/>
''Bellicidia'' was segregated from the genus ''Bacidia'' based on molecular phylogenetics analysis, which showed that ''Bacidia incompta'' occupied a distinct evolutionary lineage that had a sister relationship to the rest of the ''Toninia'' clade within the Ramalinaceae. The generic name combines the Latin word ''bellus'' meaning "pretty" with the ending -''cidia'' from its former placement in ''Bacidia''. This was meant to balance the somewhat disparaging specific epithet ''incompta'' which means "plain" or "unadorned".<ref name="Kistenich et al. 2018"/>
==Description==
''Bellicidia'' has a coarsely {{lichengloss|granular}}, grey-green to grass-green or brown-green crustose thallus without a {{lichengloss|prothallus}}. The upper {{lichengloss|cortex}} consists of a "false cortex" ({{lichengloss|pseudocortex}}) and lacks a lower cortex. The {{lichengloss|photobiont}} is a unicellular green alga.<ref name="Kistenich et al. 2018"/>
The {{lichengloss|apothecia}} (fruiting bodies) of ''Bellicidia'' are black, mostly flat but sometimes becoming convex, with a distinct shiny margin and often irregular shape. Both the {{lichengloss|proper exciple}} and {{lichengloss|hypothecium}} contain a dark red-brown pigment that turns purplish in potassium hydroxide solution (K+ purplish). The hymenium is colourless or has a faint red-brown pigment below, with young asci often surrounded by a gelatinous cap containing red-brown pigment.<ref name="Kistenich et al. 2018"/>
The asci are club-shaped ({{lichengloss|clavate}}) and contain eight spores. These {{lichengloss|ascospores}} are {{lichengloss|bacilliform}} (rod-shaped), straight or slightly curved, 15–30 μm long and 1.5–2 μm wide, with 1–5 (usually 3) thin septa (internal partitions). This combination of bacilliform ascospores and distinctive red-brown pigmentation helps distinguish ''Bellicidia'' from other genera in the ''Toninia'' group.<ref name="Kistenich et al. 2018"/><ref name="Gerasimova et al. 2021"/>
The pycnidia (structures that produce asexual spores) are black, more or less {{lichengloss|immersed}} in the thallus, up to about 0.2 mm wide, with dark red-brown walls that react purplish with K. The conidia (asexual spores) are more or less ellipsoid, 5–9 μm long and 2–2.5 μm wide, non-septate or sometimes with a single septum.<ref name="Kistenich et al. 2018"/>
==Habitat and distribution==
''Bellicidia incompta'' grows on bark in humid temperate forests.<ref name="Gerasimova et al. 2021"/> It prefers basic (pH) bark, particularly ''Ulmus'' (elm), although it has been recorded on trees from several genera, including ''Acer'' (maple), ''Aesculus'' (buckeye), ''Carpinus'' (hormbeam), ''Fraxinus'' (ash), ''Fagus'' (beech), and ''Ilex'' (holly). The lichen is widely distributed, having been recorded in Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, and Macaronesia. Records from North America are considered dubious.<ref name="Coppins & Aptroot 2009"/>
==References== {{Reflist|colwidth=30em|refs=
<ref name="Anzi 1860">{{cite book |last=Anzi |first=M. |year=1860 |title=Catalogus lichenum quos in provincia sondriensi et circa Novum-Comum collegit et in ordinem systematicum digessit |page=76 |language=la |publisher=C. Franchi |url=https://archive.org/details/cataloguslichenu0000mart/page/70/mode/2up}}</ref>
<ref name="CoL">{{Catalogue of Life |id=62GFV |title=''Bellicidia'' |access-date=26 October 2024}}</ref>
<ref name="Coppins & Aptroot 2009">{{cite book |title=The Lichens of Great Britain and Ireland |edition=2nd |editor-last1=Smith |editor-first1=C.W. |editor-last2=Aptroot |editor-first2=A. |editor-last3=Coppins |editor-first3=B.J. |editor-last4=Fletcher |editor-first4=F. |editor-last5=Gilbert |editor-first5=O.L. |editor-last6=James |editor-first6=P.W. |editor-last7=Wolselely |editor-first7=P.A. |year=2009 |chapter=''Bacidia'' De Not. (1846) |last1=Coppins |first1=B.J. |last2=Aptroot |first2=A. |location=London |publisher=The Natural History Museum |isbn=978-0-9540418-8-5 |page=406}}</ref>
<ref name="Gerasimova et al. 2021">{{cite journal |last=Gerasimova |first=Julia V. |last2=Urbanavichene |first2=Irina N. |last3=Urbanavichus |first3=Gennady P. |last4=Beck |first4=Andreas |title=Morphological and phylogenetic analyses of ''Toniniopsis subincompta'' s. lat. (Ramalinaceae, Lecanorales) in Eurasia |journal=The Lichenologist |volume=53 |issue=2 |year=2021 |doi=10.1017/s0024282921000013 |doi-access=free |pages=171–183}}</ref>
<ref name="Kistenich et al. 2018">{{cite journal |last1=Kistenich |first1=Sonja |last2=Timdal |first2=Einar |last3=Bendiksby |first3=Mika |last4=Ekman |first4=Stefan |title=Molecular systematics and character evolution in the lichen family Ramalinaceae (Ascomycota: Lecanorales) |journal=Taxon |volume=67 |issue=5 |year=2018 |pages=871–904 |doi=10.12705/675.1|hdl=10852/67955 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>
<ref name="Species Fungorum synonymy">{{cite web |title=GSD Species Synonymy. Current Name: ''Bellicidia incompta'' (Borrer) Kistenich, Timdal, Bendiksby & S. Ekman, Taxon 67(5): 891 (2018)|url=https://www.speciesfungorum.org/GSD/GSDspecies.asp?RecordID=824446 |publisher=Species Fungorum |access-date=26 October 2024}}</ref>
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}}
{{Taxonbar |from1=Q59903893 |from2=Q59904087}}
Category:Ramalinaceae Category:Lecanorales genera Category:Lichen genera Category:Taxa described in 2018 Category:Taxa named by Einar Timdal