Porocyphaceae
The Porocyphaceae are a family of lichen-forming fungi in the order Lichinales. Members of this family are typically small, dark-coloured lichens that form partnerships with cyanobacteria and grow on rocks, soil, or occasionally tree bark in well-lit areas that experience periodic wetting. The family was originally established in 1855 but was largely ignored until a 2024 study greatly expanded its scope to include genera previously placed in several other families. Porocyphaceae species are found worldwide, though they are uncommon in densely shaded forests.
Taxonomy
The name Porocyphaceae was originally established by Gustav Wilhelm Körber in 1855 for Porocyphus. Later authors did not adopt the family, and Porocyphus was usually classified in the family Ephebaceae. A 2024 multilocus phylogeny and study by Prieto, Wedin, and Schultz reinstated and emended Porocyphaceae to cover a much larger clade, treating Heppiaceae, Ephebaceae and Pyrenopsidaceae as synonyms under Porocyphaceae. The same work set out the included genera and indicated that a few placements—such as Calotrichopsis, Gyrocollema, Pseudoheppia and Stromatella—are provisional pending further molecular data. The Lichina willeyi species group was transferred into Porocyphus.Description
Species of Porocyphaceae are usually small, dark cyanolichens. Thalli are commonly and mostly ; growth forms range from crustose to squamulose, foliose, dwarf-fruticose, filamentous and, rarely,. Photobionts include single-celled cyanobacteria with yellow-brown or reddish-purple gelatinous sheaths as well as filamentous forms such as Nostoc, Scytonema, Stigonema and members of the Rivulariaceae.Ascomata are predominantly pycnoascocarps, i.e., the sexual structures develop from formed beneath pycnidia. Apothecia, when present, may be, or in form; a is often developed. Asci are mainly of the Lichina or Peccania types and are typically eight‑spored, though polyspory occurs; some taxa possess - asci. Paraphyses are always present; ascospores are and usually broadly ellipsoid. Conidiomata are pycnidia with simple conidiophores that produce small, simple conidia.
In practice the family differs from Lichinaceae by its mostly pycnoascocarpous ascomata, from Phylliscaceae by lacking unitunicate‑rostrate asci and corticate, dorsiventrally stratified thalli, and from Lichinellaceae by lacking and Lichinella-type asci.
Habitat and distribution
Porocyphaceae is cosmopolitan but is scarce in dense, shaded forests without exposed rock or soil. Species occur on a wide variety of rocks, in amphibious or periodically inundated situations, and in biological soil crusts; a few are rarely corticolous. No secondary metabolites have been detected in Porocyphaceae species by thin-layer chromatography.Genera
- Calotrichopsis
- Cladopsis
- Ephebe
- Gyrocollema
- Heppia
- Lapismalleus
- Lecidopyrenopsis
- Lempholemma
- Paracyphus
- Pleopyrenis
- Porocyphus
- Pseudocarpon
- Pseudoheppia
- Pyrenopsis
- Stromatella
- Thermutis
- Thyrea
- Tichocyphus
- ''Watsoniomyces''