# Mycowinteria

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

'''''Mycowinteria''''' is a small [genus](/source/genus) of [fungi](/source/fungi) in the family [Protothelenellaceae](/source/Protothelenellaceae).<ref name="CoL"/> The genus was established in 1986 by [Martha Sherwood-Pike](/source/Martha_Allen_Sherwood) 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](/source/staining) blue with [iodine](/source/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](/source/synonym_(taxonomy)) of ''Selinia'' {{au|Karst}} The genus was initially described as [monotypic](/source/monotypic), containing only the [type species](/source/type_species) ''M.&nbsp;anodonta''.<ref name="Sherwood-Pike & Boise 1986"/> This species was originally [described](/source/species_description) by [William Nylander](/source/William_Nylander_(botanist)) in 1869 as ''Odontotrema anodontum''.<ref name="Nylander 1869"/> In 2018, [Josef Hafellner](/source/Josef_Hafellner) instead proposed reclassifying this species in ''[Protothelenella](/source/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](/source/Ascomycota). The genus is characterized by several distinctive features. It possesses thick-walled [asci](/source/ascus) that are not functionally {{lichengloss|bitunicate}}, show diffuse blue [staining](/source/staining) in [iodine](/source/iodine), and have a broad I+ blue apical ring. The sparse, branched [paraphyses](/source/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](/source/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](/source/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](/source/subarctic_climate) and [alpine](/source/alpine_climate) 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 ([hypha](/source/hypha)e) 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](/source/ascus). These asci have thick walls and a distinctive structure at their tip that stains blue when treated with [iodine](/source/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](/source/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](/source/Josef_Hafellner) later called the type species "doubtfully lichenised".<ref name="Nimis et al. 2018"/>

==Species==

* ''[Mycowinteria alpina](/source/Mycowinteria_alpina)'' {{au|L.Holm & K.Holm (1993)}}<ref name="Holm & Holm 1993"/> – Norway; Sweden
* ''[Mycowinteria anodonta](/source/Mycowinteria_anodonta)'' {{au|(Nyl.) Sherwood & Boise (1986)}}<ref name="Sherwood-Pike & Boise 1986"/> – Europe
* ''[Mycowinteria muriformis](/source/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](/source/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>

}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q10591599}}

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

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Mycowinteria](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycowinteria) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycowinteria?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.