Heteroplacidium | |
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Heteroplacidium fusculum | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Fungi |
Division: | Ascomycota |
Class: | Eurotiomycetes |
Order: | Verrucariales |
Family: | Verrucariaceae |
Genus: | Heteroplacidium Breuss (1996) |
Type species | |
Heteroplacidium imbricatum (Nyl.) Breuss (1996)
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Heteroplacidium is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Verrucariaceae.[1] The genus was circumscribed by Austrian lichenologist Othmar Breuss in 1996 with Heteroplacidium imbricatum assigned as the type species. It was proposed as a segregate of Catapyrenium.[2] Other morphologically similar genera are Neocatapyrenium, Placidium, and Scleropyrenium, although molecular phylogenetic analyses indicate that they are independent monophyletic lineages within the Verrucariaceae.[3][4]
Most Heteroplacidium species are autonomous lichens, generally crustose and areolate. Four species in the genus are obligate parasites or facultatively lichenicolous – H. compactum, H. fusculum, H. transmutans, and H. zamenhofianum.[5]