{{Short description|Genus of lichens}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = | taxon = Mycowinteria | authority = Sherwood (1986) | type_species = Mycowinteria anodonta | type_species_authority = (Nyl.) Sherwood & Boise (1986) | synonyms_ref = <ref name="Species Fungorum synonymy"/> | synonyms = *''Trematosphaeria'' subgen. ''Winteria'' {{au|Rehm (1881)}} *''Winteria'' {{au|(Rehm) Sacc. (1883)}} | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = ''M. alpina''<br /> ''M. anodonta''<br /> ''M. muriformis'' }}

'''''Mycowinteria''''' is a small genus of fungi in the family Protothelenellaceae.<ref name="CoL"/> The genus was established in 1986 by Martha Sherwood-Pike as a replacement name for the illegitimate ''Winteria'', and comprises three known species found on weathered wood in Europe, Norway, Sweden, and Papua New Guinea. These fungi appear as tiny dark greenish-black spots with distinctive microscopic features including thick-walled asci that stain blue with iodine and complex grid-patterned ({{lichengloss|muriform}}) spores. While sometimes found growing near algae, they do not form true lichens, though their exact taxonomic placement has been debated.

==Taxonomy==

The genus ''Mycowinteria'' was established by the lichenologist Martha Sherwood-Pike in 1986 as a new name for ''Winteria'' {{au|(Rehm) Sacc.}}, which was illegitimate due to being predated by ''Winteria'' {{au|Sacc.}}, an obligate synonym of ''Selinia'' {{au|Karst}} The genus was initially described as monotypic, containing only the type species ''M.&nbsp;anodonta''.<ref name="Sherwood-Pike & Boise 1986"/> This species was originally described by William Nylander in 1869 as ''Odontotrema anodontum''.<ref name="Nylander 1869"/> In 2018, Josef Hafellner instead proposed reclassifying this species in ''Protothelenella''.<ref name="Nimis et al. 2018"/>

The taxonomic placement of ''Mycowinteria'' is unclear, as it does not correspond well to any established family of Ascomycota. The genus is characterized by several distinctive features. It possesses thick-walled asci that are not functionally {{lichengloss|bitunicate}}, show diffuse blue staining in iodine, and have a broad I+ blue apical ring. The sparse, branched paraphyses have free ends, suggesting ascohymenial development. The {{lichengloss|ascospores}} are {{lichengloss|muriform}}.<ref name="Sherwood-Pike & Boise 1986"/>

While sometimes found growing in association with algae, species of ''Mycowinteria'' do not form a true lichen thallus. The genus has been suggested to be either very isolated taxonomically, or to represent a case where fundamental taxonomic characters have become modified beyond recognition from their ancestral form.<ref name="Sherwood-Pike & Boise 1986"/>

The genus can be distinguished from the similar ''Xylopezia'' by its muriform ascospores (compared to transversely septate in ''Xylopezia''), positive iodine reaction in asci (versus iodine negative in ''Xylopezia''), and blue-staining hymenial gel (versus non-staining in ''Xylopezia''). Species in the genus are typically found on weathered wood, particularly in boreal and alpine areas of Europe and North America.<ref name="Sherwood-Pike & Boise 1986"/>

==Description==

''Mycowinteria'' species appear as tiny, scattered dark greenish-black spots that develop on bleached patches of bark-free wood. Each fungal body (known as an ascoma) is circular or slightly elongated in shape and measures 0.3–0.6&nbsp;mm across. The fungal bodies begin their development completely buried within the wood, causing small swellings or pustules on the surface. Eventually, they open at maturity through a broad pore that exposes their internal spore-producing layer, which sits just slightly below the wood surface. The outer wall of the fungal body is made up of loosely interwoven fungal threads (hyphae) embedded in a greenish gel-like matrix, rather than being hard and {{lichengloss|carbonized}} like many related fungi.<ref name="Sherwood-Pike & Boise 1986"/>

Inside the fungal body, spores are produced in microscopic sac-like structures called asci. These asci have thick walls and a distinctive structure at their tip that stains blue when treated with iodine. Between the asci are thin, branching threads called paraphyses. Unlike many similar fungi, ''Mycowinteria'' species produce complex spores that are divided by both crosswise and lengthwise internal walls, creating a grid-like pattern (described as {{lichengloss|muriform}}).<ref name="Sherwood-Pike & Boise 1986"/>

While these fungi are sometimes found growing near green algae on the wood surface, they don't form a true symbiotic relationship with the algae like lichens do. This occasional association with algae may provide some nutritional benefits to the fungi, but they can grow independently as well.<ref name="Sherwood-Pike & Boise 1986"/> Josef Hafellner later called the type species "doubtfully lichenised".<ref name="Nimis et al. 2018"/>

==Species==

* ''Mycowinteria alpina'' {{au|L.Holm & K.Holm (1993)}}<ref name="Holm & Holm 1993"/> – Norway; Sweden * ''Mycowinteria anodonta'' {{au|(Nyl.) Sherwood & Boise (1986)}}<ref name="Sherwood-Pike & Boise 1986"/> – Europe * ''Mycowinteria muriformis'' {{au|Aptroot (1998)}}<ref name="Aptroot & Iperen 1998"/> – Papua New Guinea

==References== {{Reflist|colwidth=30em|refs=

<ref name="Aptroot & Iperen 1998">{{cite journal |last1=Aptroot |first=André |last2=Iperen |first2=Arien van |year=1998 |title=New ascomycetes and ascomycete records from Papua New Guinea |journal=Nova Hedwigia |volume=67 |issue=3–4 |pages=481–497 |doi=10.1127/nova.hedwigia/67/1998/481}}</ref>

<ref name="CoL">{{Catalogue of Life |id=5W72 |title=''Mycowinteria'' |access-date=19 February 2025}}</ref>

<ref name="Holm & Holm 1993">{{cite journal |last1=Holm |first1=L. |last2=Holm |first2=K. |year=1993 |title=Two new northern pyrenomycetes |journal=Blyttia |volume=51 |pages=121–123 |url=https://nhm2.uio.no/botanisk/nbf/blyttia/DR-2010C/Blyttia_51-3&4.pdf}}</ref>

<ref name="Nimis et al. 2018">{{cite journal |first1=Pier Luigi |last1=Nimis |first2=Josef |last2=Hafellner |first3=Claude |last3=Roux |first4=Philippe |last4=Clerc |first5=Helmut |last5=Mayrhofer |first6=Stefano |last6=Martellos |first7=Peter O. |last7=Bilovitz |year=2018 |title=The lichens of the Alps – an annotated checklist |journal=MycoKeys |volume=31 |pages=1–634 [617] |doi=10.3897/mycokeys.31.23658 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

<ref name="Nylander 1869">{{cite journal |last=Nylander |first=W. |year=1869 |title=Addenda nova ad lichenographiam Europaeam. Continuatio duodecima |trans-title=New additions to the lichenography of Europe. Twelfth continuation |journal=Flora (Regensburg) |volume=52 |pages=409–413 [411] |language=la |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/58939}}</ref>

<ref name="Species Fungorum synonymy">{{cite web |title=Synonymy. Current Name: ''Mycowinteria'' Sherwood, in Sherwood & Boise, Brittonia 38(1): 36 (1986)|url=https://www.speciesfungorum.org/Names/SynSpecies.asp?RecordID=25767 |publisher=Species Fungorum |access-date=19 February 2025}}</ref>

<ref name="Sherwood-Pike & Boise 1986">{{cite journal |last1=Sherwood-Pike |first1=Martha A. |last2=Boise |first2=Jean R. |year=1986 |title=Studies in lignicolous ascomycetes: ''Xylopezia'' and ''Mycowinteria'' |journal=Brittonia |volume=38 |pages=35–44 |jstor=2807416 |doi=10.2307/2807416}}</ref>

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Category:Baeomycetales Category:Baeomycetales genera Category:Taxa described in 1986 Category:Lichen genera