{{Short description|Genus of lichens}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2025}} {{Use Oxford spelling|date=July 2025}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = Loxospora ochrophaea - Flickr - pellaea.jpg | image_caption = ''Loxospora ochrophaea'' | taxon = Loxospora | authority = A.Massal. (1852) | type_species = ''Loxospora elatina'' | type_species_authority = (Ach.) A.Massal. (1852) }}
'''''Loxospora''''' is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Sarrameanaceae. The genus was established in 1852 by the Italian lichenologist Abramo Bartolommeo Massalongo and originally included species now placed in other genera. Molecular phylogenetics studies have revealed that several species previously assigned to ''Loxospora'' actually belong to a separate lineage, leading to the creation of the new genus ''Chicitaea'' in 2024. These lichens form crusty growths on bark and rock surfaces, with some species producing powdery reproductive structures whilst others develop disc-shaped fruiting bodies.
==Taxonomy==
The genus was circumscribed by the Italian lichenologist Abramo Bartolommeo Massalongo in 1852, with ''Loxospora elatina'' assigned as the type species.<ref name="Massalongo 1852"/> This crustose lichen was originally named ''Lecanora elatina'' by Erik Acharius in 1810.<ref name="Acharius 1810"/>
Phylogenetic and chemical studies have shown that ''Loxospora'' in the loose sense (''sensu lato'') actually comprises two well-supported lineages. A multilocus analysis of all 13 accepted species demonstrated that taxa producing 2'-''O''-methylperlatolic acid, whose asci lack an amyloid apical dome and whose ascospores are {{lichengloss|simple}} and broadly ellipsoid, form a clade that is distinct from the thamnolic acid-containing core of the genus. To reflect this, Ptach-Styn and colleagues (2024) segregated those species as the new genus ''Chicitaea'', making four new combinations (''C. assateaguensis'', ''C. confusa'', ''C. cristinae'' and ''C. lecanoriformis'') and rendering ''Loxospora'' in the strict sense (''sensu stricto'') a chemically and morphologically coherent group.<ref name="Ptach-Styn et al. 2024"/>
Within ''Loxospora'' s.str., the same study detected two haplotype clusters. One corresponds to ''L. elatina'' sensu stricto, whereas the other matches the little-known taxon ''Pertusaria chloropolia'', which was therefore resurrected and recombined as ''Loxospora chloropolia''; lectotypes were also selected for both ''L. elatina'' and ''P. chloropolia'' to stabilise their application.<ref name="Ptach-Styn et al. 2024"/>
Sequences of the sorediate ''L. elatina'' and the morphologically similar but fertile ''L. ochrophaea'' are intermixed in the resulting phylogeny, suggesting a very close relationship—possibly even conspecificity. Because the two differ consistently in reproductive mode and show partially non-overlapping distributions, Ptach-Styn and colleagues retained them as separate species pending denser sampling and genomic data.<ref name="Ptach-Styn et al. 2024"/>
==Description==
The thallus—the main body of a ''Loxospora'' lichen—forms a crust tightly attached to its substrate. Its surface can be thin and film-like or build into a thicker, uneven crust, and it ranges from grey to yellowish-grey. Some species develop tiny, floury patches called soralia that release powdery propagules for asexual reproduction. Inside the thallus lives a single-celled green alga of the ''Trebouxia'' type (a {{lichengloss|trebouxioid}} photobiont).<ref name="Cannon et al. 2025"/>
Sexual reproductive bodies (apothecia) appear as low, stalk-less {{lichengloss|discs}} that rise from small wart-like swellings of the thallus. The disc is usually brown and may carry a frost-like coating ({{lichengloss|pruina}}). Around the rim, fragments of the thallus form a margin that often tears and becomes ragged, sometimes itself producing soredia. Beneath the disc, the {{lichengloss|exciple}}—a thin band of fungal tissue—remains brown, while deeper layers (the {{lichengloss|hypothecium}}) are colourless. The spore-bearing layer (hymenium) turns blue when stained with iodine (I+ blue), signalling the presence of starch-like compounds. Slender, only slightly branched filaments (paraphyses) weave through the hymenium, and each sac-like ascus holds eight colourless ascospores. These spores are broadly spindle-shaped ({{lichengloss|fusiform}}) to ellipsoidal, tapering at both ends, often gently curved or twisted, and divided by three to seven internal walls (septa). Asexual spores form in tiny, submerged structures (pycnidia) and emerge as rod-shaped, colourless conidia. Chemically, most members of the genus produce thamnolic acid, with a few also containing gyrophoric acid.<ref name="Cannon et al. 2025"/>
==Species== *''Loxospora chloropolia'' {{au|(Erichsen) Ptach-Styn, Guzow-Krzem., Tønsberg & Kukwa (2024)}}<ref name="Ptach-Styn et al. 2024"/> *''Loxospora cismonica'' {{au|(Beltr.) Hafellner (1987)}}<ref name="Wirth 1987"/> *''Loxospora cyamidia'' {{au|(Stirt.) Kantvilas (2000)}}<ref name="Kantvilas 2000"/> *''Loxospora elatina'' {{au|(Ach.) A.Massal. (1852)}} *''Loxospora glaucomiza'' {{au|(Nyl.) Kalb & Staiger (1995)}} *''Loxospora isidiata'' {{au|Kalb (1992)}}<ref name="Kalb & Hafellner 1992"/> *''Loxospora ochrophaea'' {{au|(Tuck.) R.C.Harris (1990)}}<ref name="Egan 1990"/> *''Loxospora septata'' {{au|(Sipman & Aptroot) Kantvilas (2000)}}<ref name="Kantvilas 2000"/> *''Loxospora solenospora'' {{au|(Müll.Arg.) Kantvilas (2000)}}<ref name="Kantvilas 2000"/>
''Loxospora pustulata'' {{au|(Brodo & W.L.Culb.) Egan (1990)}} is now known as ''Lepra pustulata''.<ref name="Lendemer & Harris 2017"/>
==References== {{Reflist|colwidth=30em|refs=
<ref name="Acharius 1810">{{cite book |last=Acharius |first=E. |year=1810 |title=Lichenographia Universalis |page=387 |publisher=Iust. Frid. Danckwerts |location=Gottingen |language=la |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/44219663}}</ref>
<ref name="Cannon et al. 2025">{{cite book |last1=Cannon |first1=P. |last2=Coppins |first2=B. |last3=Aptroot |first3=A. |last4=Sanderson |first4=N. |last5=Simkin |first5=J. |year=2025 |title=Miscellaneous lichens and lichenicolous fungi, including ''Aphanopsis'' and ''Steinia'' (Aphanopsidaceae), ''Arthrorhaphis'' (Arthrorhaphidaceae), ''Buelliella'', ''Hemigrapha'', ''Melaspileella'', ''Stictographa'' and ''Taeniolella'' (Asterinales, family unassigned), ''Phylloblastia'' (Chaetothyriales, family unassigned) ''Cystocoleus'' (Cystocoleaceae), ''Sclerococcum'' (Dactylosporaceae), ''Eiglera'' (Eigleraceae), ''Epigloea'' (Epigloeaceae), ''Euopsis'' (Harpidiaceae), ''Lichenothelia'' (Lichenotheliaceae), ''Lichinodium'' (Lichinodiaceae), ''Melaspilea'' (Melaspileaceae), ''Epithamnolia'' and ''Mniaecia'' (Mniaeciaceae), ''Lichenostigma'' (Phaeococcomycetaceae), ''Pycnora'' (Pycnoraceae), ''Racodium'' (Racodiaceae), ''Chicitaea'' and ''Loxospora'' (Sarrameanaceae), ''Schaereria'' (Schaereriaceae), ''Strangospora'' (Strangosporaceae), ''Botryolepraria'' and ''Stigmidium'' (Verrucariales, family unassigned), and ''Biatoridium'', ''Mycoglaena'', ''Orphniospora'', ''Piccolia'', ''Psammina'' and ''Wadeana'' (order and family unassigned) |series=Revisions of British and Irish Lichens |volume=57 |page=27 |url=https://britishlichensociety.org.uk/sites/default/files/Miscellaneous%20genera_0.pdf}}{{Open access}}</ref>
<ref name="Egan 1990">{{cite journal |last1=Egan |first1=Robert S. |year=1990 |title=Changes to the "Fifth Checklist of the Lichen-Forming, Lichenicolous and Allied Fungi of the Continental United States and Canada." Edition II |journal=The Bryologist |volume=93 |issue=2 |pages=211–217 |doi=10.2307/3243627 |jstor= 3243627}}</ref>
<ref name="Kalb & Hafellner 1992">{{cite journal |last1=Kalb |first1=K. |last2=Hafellner |first2=J. |year=1992 |title=Bemerkenswerte Flechten und lichenicole Pilze von der Insel Madeira |journal=Herzogia |volume=9 |issue=1–2 |pages=45–102 |doi=10.1127/herzogia/9/1992/45 |bibcode=1992Herz....9...45K |language=de}}</ref>
<ref name="Kantvilas 2000">{{cite journal |last=Kantvilas |first=G. |year=2000 |title=Additions from the Southern Hemisphere to the lichen genus ''Loxospora'' |journal=Herzogia |volume=14 |pages=35–38 |doi=10.1127/herzogia/14/2000/35 |bibcode=2000Herz...14...35K }}</ref>
<ref name="Lendemer & Harris 2017">{{cite journal |last1=Lendemer |first1=James C. |last2=Harris |first2=Richard C. |title=Nomenclatural changes for North American members of the ''Variolaria''-group necessitated by the recognition of ''Lepra'' (Pertusariales) |journal=The Bryologist |volume=120 |issue=2 |year=2017 |pages=183–190 |doi=10.1639/0007-2745-120.2.183}}</ref>
<ref name="Massalongo 1852">{{cite book |last1=Massalongo |first1=A.B. |year=1852 |title=Ricerche sull'autonomia dei licheni crostosi |page=137 |location=Verona |publisher=Dalla tipografia di A. Frizierio |language=it |url=https://archive.org/details/ricerchesullaut00massgoog/page/n158/mode/2up}}</ref>
<ref name="Ptach-Styn et al. 2024">{{cite journal |last1=Ptach-Styn |first1=Łucja |last2=Guzow-Krzemińska |first2=Beata |last3=Lendemer |first3=James C. |last4=Tønsberg |first4=Tor |last5=Kukwa |first5=Martin |title=Phylogeny of the genus ''Loxospora'' s.l. (Sarrameanales, Lecanoromycetes, Ascomycota), with ''Chicitaea'' gen. nov. and five new combinations in ''Chicitaea'' and ''Loxospora'' |journal=MycoKeys |issue=102 |year=2024 |pmid=38414731 |pmc=10897838 |doi=10.3897/mycokeys.102.116196 |doi-access=free |pages=155–181}}</ref>
<ref name="Wirth 1987">{{cite book |last=Wirth |first=V. |year=1987 |title=Die Flechten Baden-Württembergs. Verbreitungsatlas |page=511 |location=Stuttgart |publisher=Eugen Ulmer |language=de |isbn=978-3-8001-3305-5}}</ref>
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Category:Lecanoromycetes Category:Lecanoromycetes genera Category:Lichen genera Category:Taxa described in 1852 Category:Taxa named by Abramo Bartolommeo Massalongo