Bryodina
Bryodina is a genus of two species of crustose lichens in the family Lecanoraceae. It was first proposed as a distinct genus by Austrian lichenologist Josef Hafellner in the early 1990s, but the name was validly published only in 2001 when Hafellner supplied a formal Latin and typification. It is distinguished from the morphologically similar genus Bryonora by the clearly separated and, and by the thin-walled ascospores.
Taxonomy
Josef Hafellner first informally separated the moss-dwelling "Rhyparizae" species from Bryonora in the early 1990s, coining the name Bryodina, but the genus became nomenclaturally valid only in 2001 when he published a full Latin and typified it with Bryodina rhypariza. The genus sits in the family Lecanoraceae and is typified by Bryodina rhypariza. A second member is the Himalayan species B. selenospora. Hafellner highlighted several anatomical distinctions from Bryonora in the strict sense: the apothecial margin is grey-brown and resembles that of some Rinodina species, the around the apothecium carries coarse, and a cup-shaped layer of intricately woven hyphae separates the hymenial tissue from the. Bryodina spores are thin-walled, kidney- to sausage-shaped and usually curved, whereas those of Bryonora are thicker and more barrel-like. The generic name combines the Greek bryon —reflecting its substrate preference—with the ending "-dina", chosen to evoke its superficial resemblance to Rinodina.Description
The lichen forms a thin, crustose thallus that spreads over siliceous rock or the cushions of moss that colonise such stone. Apothecia are : the and margin are differently coloured, the latter retaining a thin rim of thallus tissue. Discs range from pale to mid-brown and sit flush with, or only slightly above, the surrounding crust. Beneath the hymenium lies a distinctive "intricata" layer—an intricate tangle of hyphae that behaves like a tiny cup, isolating the fertile tissue from the thalline margin. The itself displays coarse granules that are visible in thin sections.Asci follow the Lecanora-type blueprint: eight ascospores, a strongly iodine-positive, and a broad central mass that also stains blue in iodine. Spores are initially single-celled but may develop one septum with age; they are oblong, gently kidney-shaped or stoutly, and have thin, parallel walls—features that help separate the genus from lookalikes. No specialised asexual propagules have been reported in Bryodina, and secondary metabolite data are lacking.