Dictyonema hapteriferum
Dictyonema hapteriferum is a species of lichen-forming fungus in the family Hygrophoraceae. It is a shelf‑forming basidiolichen—a lichen whose fungal partner belongs to the Basidiomycota rather than the more common Ascomycota—first described in 2013 from specinens collected in cloud forest habitats in the Andes. Its turquoise, filamentous thallus overgrows bark in thin, horizontal sheets whose underside carries minute, root‑like spore‑producing pads.
Taxonomy
Dictyonema hapteriferum was described and named by Robert Lücking, Manuela Dal Forno and Karina Wilk in a revision of Neotropical basidiolichens. The holotype, collected by Wilk in Madidi National Park, La Paz Department, Bolivia, anchors the name. DNA sequences confirm that the species belongs to a well‑supported lineage inside Dictyonema in the strict sense and is closely allied to, yet distinct from, the widespread D. sericeum.Description
In the field the lichen forms shallow, shelf‑like up to a few centimeters long, stacked shingle‑style along the host trunk. The upper surface is a blue‑green felt created by numerous fibrils—hair‑like cyanobacterial threads ensheathed by fungal hyphae—lying more or less horizontally and only loosely interwoven. A faint whitish rim of pure fungal tissue may outline the shelves.Microscopically each fibril is 9–12 μm wide and contains scattered pale s, specialized cyanobacterial cells that fix nitrogen. The surrounding fungal sheath is made of jigsaw‑shaped cells typical for Dictyonema. From the lobe underside arise sparse, thin, ‑like hymenophore patches—tiny pads where the fungus forms its spore layer. These structures, only a few tenths of a millimeter across, inspired the species name. No fully mature basidia or basidiospores were present in the type series.