Nash, T.H., Ryan, B.D., Gries, C., Bungartz, F., (eds.) 2004. Lichen Flora of the Greater Sonoran Desert Region. Vol 2.

Life habit: lichenicolous, non-lichenized Hyphal strands: absent (subgenus Lichenostigma) or connected to the ascomata, superficial, formed by a single row of cells or plurihyphal (stromatic), branched or not (subgenus Lichenogramma) Ascomata: black, superficial, cushion-like, globose, elongate or irregular, scattered or confluent, connected or not to brown superficial hyphal strands ternal structure: paraplectenchymatous, stromatic, with ±spherical hyphal cells; interascal filaments: lacking, in terascal space: filled with ±spherical cells centrum: I- or I+ blue or red, K/I- or K/I+ blue asci: ±globose, broadly obovate or broadly clavate, fissitunicate, arising within the pseudoparenchyma of the stromatic ascomata, sometimes K/I+ bluish around the apex of the ocular chamber, Arthonia-type, 4- to 8-spored ascospores: hyaline or brown, 1-septate or submuriform, ellipsoid or obovate, with or without a visible halo, ornamented or not Anamorph: probably a conidial fungus with small bacilliform conidia Geography: world-wide Substrate: thallus and apothecia of lichens. Notes: In addition to the Lichenostigma species treated here, several specimens of species not described so far have been examined. That material was sterile or poorly developed, not allowing a formal description. Consequently, an increase in the number of species of this genus for the region is expected in the future. Lichenothelia species have similar stromatic ascomata, but mainly differ in asci produced in a hymenium-like layer and in the presence of interascal filaments.

Nash, T.H., Ryan, B.D., Gries, C., Bungartz, F., (eds.) 2004. Lichen Flora of the Greater Sonoran Desert Region. Vol 2.

Life habit: lichenicolous, commensalistic, non-lichenized Ascomata: known in at least one species, stromatic, resembling an aggregation of several blackish conidiomata, lacking a differentiated hamathecium, with pyriform, bitunicate, 8-spored asci, and hyaline, 1-septate, acicular ascospores spirally arranged within the ascus Conidiomata: superficial, stromatic, convex, basally constricted, immarginate, black, composed of hyaline, globose, thick-walled cells, becoming brown towards the edge; stroma: sometimes surrounded by a brown pellicle-like layer conidiophores: micronematous, located within the conidioma, indistinguishable from the hyaline, subspherical cells of the stroma that can each act as conidiophores genous cells: polyblastic, hyaline to pale brown, ellipsoid to subcylindrical, with a truncate base, located within the stroma, at first producing apically 1-3 pale brown, small, ellipsoid to subspherical cells; during maturation, these subspherical cells become more numerous, larger, and dark brown conidia: consisting of the initial conidiogenous cell surrounded by the brown subspherical cells that do not become detached from the mother cell (and thus cannot be considered individually as a conidium), forming a compact, multicellular, dark brown, ellipsoid aggregate, leaving the conidioma through irregular apical openings Geography: cosmopolitan Substrate: thallus and more rarely apothecia of lichens. Notes: Phaeosporobolus specimens are very abundant and found on a diversity of lichens. Populations on fruticose, epiphytic lichens are usually attributed to P. usneae, whilst those on Ochrolechia and Pertusaria belong to P. alpinus