{{Short description|Genus of lichen-forming fungi}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2025}} {{Use Oxford spelling|date=September 2025}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = Synalissina intricata 1535627898.jpg | image_caption = ''Synalissina intricata'' | taxon = Synalissina | authority = Nyl. (1886) | type_species = ''Synalissina intricata'' | type_species_authority = (Arnold) Nyl. (1886) | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = See text }}
'''''Synalissina''''' is a genus of saxicolous (rock-dwelling) cyanolichens (lichens with cyanobacteria as the photosynthetic partner) placed in the family Lichinellaceae. These tiny lichens form blackish, variable growths, ranging from small leaf-like patches to dwarf cushions, on calcareous and mineral-rich rocks in exposed to partially shaded locations. The genus was originally described by William Nylander in 1886 but fell into disuse until it was resurrected in 2024 following DNA studies that reorganised cyanolichen classification. It comprises nine species distributed across boreal to warm-temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.
==Taxonomy==
''Synalissina'' was originally erected by the Finnish lichenologist William Nylander in 1886. Nylander placed the genus under his tribe "Collemei" and explained the name as referring to the "hormogonia-bearing gonidia" (i.e. the cyanobacterial photobiont); he included ''Synalissina intricata'', transferring Arnold's ''Omphalaria intricata'' (which he had earlier treated under ''Synalissa''), and cited records from Tyrol and Scotland.<ref name="Nylander 1885"/>
The name ''Synalissina'' was resurrected by María Prieto, Mats Wedin and Matthias Schultz in their 2024 study to accommodate a clade within the family Lichinellaceae that had previously been included in ''Lempholemma'' (the "''Lempholemma botryosum'' group"). In their formal {{lichengloss|diagnosis}} they characterise ''Synalissina'' as a genus of Lichinellaceae with a ''Nostoc'' cyanobiont, {{lichengloss|zeorine}} apothecia ({{lichengloss|disc}} with a thick {{lichengloss|thalline margin}}) that originate from {{lichengloss|ascogones}} arising in a spheroid tangle of generative hyphae (i.e. thallus-internal initiation), and ''Peccania''-type asci. They verified multiple new combinations in the genus and note the exclusive occurrence on rock.<ref name="Prieto et al. 2024"/>
==Description==
Thalli of ''Synalissina'' are blackish (sometimes with a greyish "frosted" bloom, i.e. {{lichengloss|pruinose}}), very small and variable in form: from small foliose through small {{lichengloss|squamulose}}-{{lichengloss|peltate}} to dwarf-{{lichengloss|fruticose}} cushions. They are {{lichengloss|ecorticate}} (lacking an outer {{lichengloss|cortex}}) and {{lichengloss|homoiomerous}} (with {{lichengloss|photobiont}} cells distributed throughout the thallus), with hyphae forming a loose network around chains of ''Nostoc''; the thallus swells markedly when wet and attaches by {{lichengloss|rhizohyphae}} or a small {{lichengloss|umbilicus}}. Some species develop terminal {{lichengloss|hormocystangia}}; isidiose or phyllidiose outgrowths are rare. Fruiting bodies (apothecia) are small, {{lichengloss|sessile}} or short-stalked at branch tips, zeorine (thick thalline margin with a thin {{lichengloss|proper exciple}}); the hymenium is iodine-positive (KOH/Lugol+ blue). Asci are ''Peccania''-type and eight-spored; ascospores are {{lichengloss|simple}} (non-septate). Pycnidia are immersed in the thallus to slightly elevated and produce small, {{lichengloss|bacilliform}} to ellipsoid conidia. No secondary metabolites were detected by thin-layer chromatography.<ref name="Prieto et al. 2024"/>
==Habitat and distribution==
Species of ''Synalissina'' are early colonisers of calcareous or mineral-rich rocks, on exposed through steep and somewhat shaded faces, including temporarily moist situations. The genus is reported as widely distributed across boreal to warm-temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. <ref name="Prieto et al. 2024"/>
==Species== * ''Synalissina botryosa'' {{au|(A.Massal.)<ref name="Massalongo 1856"/> M.Schultz & M.Prieto (2024)}} * ''Synalissina cladodes'' {{au|(Tuck.)<ref name="Tuckerman 1872"/> M.Schultz & M.Prieto (2024)}} * ''Synalissina condensata'' {{au|(Arnold)<ref name="Arnold 1869"/> M.Schultz & M.Prieto (2024)}} * ''Synalissina degeliana'' {{au|(P.M.Jørg.)<ref name="Jørgensen 1998"/> M.Schultz & M.Prieto (2024)}} * ''Synalissina dispansa'' {{au|(H.Magn.)<ref name="Magnusson 1939"/> M.Schultz & M.Prieto (2024)}} * ''Synalissina intricata'' {{au|(Arnold)<ref name="Arnold 1869b"/> Nyl. (1886)}} * ''Synalissina intricatissima'' {{au|(J.Steiner) M.Schultz & M.Prieto (2024)}} * ''Synalissina isidiodes'' {{au|(Nyl. ex Arnold) M.Schultz & M.Prieto (2024)}} * ''Synalissina vesiculifera'' {{au|(Henssen)<ref name="Henssen 1969"/> M.Schultz & M.Prieto (2024)}}
==References== {{Reflist|colwidth=30em|refs=
<ref name="Arnold 1869">{{cite journal |last=Arnold |first=F. |year=1869 |title=Lichenologische Ausflüge in Tirol. IV. Der Schlern |journal=Verhandlungen der Kaiserlich-Königlichen Zoologisch-Botanischen Gesellschaft in Wien |volume=19 |pages=605–656 [655] |language=de |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/42911913}}</ref>
<ref name="Arnold 1869b">{{cite journal |last=Arnold |first=F. |year=1869 |title=Lichenologische Fragmente V. Zwei Tage in Wessen |journal=Flora |volume=52 |pages=251–255 [254] |language=de |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/58783}}</ref>
<ref name="Henssen 1969">{{cite journal |last=Henssen |first=Aino |year=1969 |title=An interesting new species of ''Lempholemma'' from Canada |journal=The Lichenologist |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=99–104 |doi=10.1017/S0024282969000181 |bibcode=1969ThLic...4...99H }}</ref>
<ref name="Jørgensen 1998">{{cite journal |last=Jørgensen |first=P.M. |year=1998 |title=A new species in the lichen genus ''Lempholemma'' from the Baltic islands |journal=Graphis Scripta |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=5–6 |url=https://nhm2.uio.no/botanisk/lav/Graphis/GS_9-1.pdf}}</ref>
<ref name="Magnusson 1939">{{cite journal |last=Magnusson |first=A.H. |year=1939 |title=New or otherwise interesting Swedish lichens X |journal=Botaniska Notiser |volume=1939 |pages=302–314}}</ref>
<ref name="Massalongo 1856">{{cite book |last=Massalongo |first=A. |year=1856 |title=Miscellanea lichenologica |publisher=Giuseppe Civelli |location=Verona–Milano |page=20 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u8tAAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA20}}</ref>
<ref name="Nylander 1885">{{cite journal |last=Nylander |first=W. |year=1885 |title=Addenda nova ad lichenographiam Europaean |journal=Revue de botanique; bulletin mensuel de la Société Française de Botanique |volume= |page=349 |language=la |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FjVMAAAAYAAJ&q=Synalissina&pg=PA349}}</ref>
<ref name="Prieto et al. 2024">{{cite journal |last1=Prieto |first1=M. |last2=Wedin |first2=M. |last3=Schultz |first3=M. |year=2024 |title=Phylogeny, evolution and a re-classification of the Lichinomycetes |journal=Studies in Mycology |volume=109 |pages=595–655 |doi=10.3114/sim.2024.109.09 |pmid=39717657 |pmc=11663425}}</ref>
<ref name="Tuckerman 1872">{{cite book |last=Tuckerman |first=E. |year=1872 |title=Genera Lichenum: An arrangement of the North America lichens |page=89 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/37918889}}</ref>
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{{Taxonbar|from=Q136457979}}
Category:Lichinomycetes Category:Lichinomycetes genera Category:Lichen genera Category:Taxa described in 1886 Category:Taxa named by William Nylander (botanist)