Sections - Dataface Application

History of "Caliciales" and the Origin of the "Calicioids"

What are “calicioid” lichens and fungi?

Although the old Caliciales is an invalid phylogenetic group (_), most taxa that formed the group possess important characters that unite them ecologically. Most have stalked ascomata with loose spores remaining at the top (either a true mazaedium or spores piling up after active, but weak discharge). This structure suggests similar spore dispersal mechanisms. Also most taxa from the Caliciales occur in one of two specific types of habitats: (A) on twigs, usually with very strong host specificity, and (B) in sheltered sites on old wood or bark. Some genera utilize both habitats. For example in the lichenized genus Calicium, the species C. adaequatum inhabits twigs of a selection of hardwood trees and shrubs, while other species in the genus inhabit sheltered sites, particularly on old wood or bark; similarly in the Mycocaliciaceae, Stenocybe pulatula inhabits twigs of the hardwood genus Alnus, while Stenocybe clavata inhabits old bark on conifers. Thus the old group has been retained by ecologists as a functional group, the ‘calicioids’.

Calicioid look-alikes

While ‘calicioids’ may form an ecologically justified group; there are similar looking fungi and slime molds that occasionally appear in calicioid habitats. Most are not as restrictive to these habitats, so continue to be excluded from the ecologically-based definition of ‘calicioid’. There are a few species which might be justifiably included, though the habitat restrictions seem to be just for one or a few species within their genera – not genus-wide as with the excepted ‘calicioids’.

Slime-molds (Plasmodial slime molds; mycomycetes) may occur on twigs and on old wood habitats similar to calicioids. Usually in the case of old wood, the microhabitat is more damp than calicioids tolerate. Slime molds can be easily distinguished from calicioids in that their stalk tends to taper strongly upwards; the sporangium is often quite shiny and disintegrates, briefly leaving a fine, open, web-like structure; and of course spores are not produced within asci. The stalk and sporangial characters are illustrated in Figure 1.

Slime mold sporulation Slime molds often produce spores atop a structure similar to calicioids. However, the spore mass at the top of the stalk is somewhat short-lived (not perennial), leaving first a fine latice of non-spore structure, and eventually just the pointed stalk.

Caliciopsis

Encyclopedia of Life:

Caliciopsis Ascospores are produced within the stalk and are extruded through the neck of the stalk forming a mazaedial-like spore mass at the top. Caliciopsis and a Rhinchostoma (with a similar ascomatal structure) should be considered for inclusion with the ecological/morphological definition of calicioid fungi, but are not yet included in this work.

Rhyncostoma minutum

Pycnostysanos (PSME resin, Rhododendron buds)

Encyclopedia of Life:

Paper on Pycnostysanus resinae (Sorocybe resinae) and similar fungi.

Pycnostysanus A resin-loving group of fungi that in the Pacific Northwest of North America are commonly found over resin flows on Pseudotsuga menziesii and old buds of Rhododendron. Spore masses are conidial, not ascospores, and stalks tend to be tapered.

Other fungi