Ertzia
Ertzia Hodkinson & Lücking in Hodkinson et al., Fungal diversity. 64(1):165-179 (2014)
Etymology: Named after Damien Ertz, for his important contributions to our knowledge of the evolution and classification of lichenized fungi
Diagnosis: Differing from Lepidostroma s.str. in the microsquamulose thallus forming contiguous glomerules with a cortex of characteristic, jig-saw-puzzle-shaped cells and lacking a medulla.
Thallus microsquamulose, composed of distinct, contiguous glomerules with cortex formed by a layer of hyaline cells resembling the pieces of a jigsaw-puzzle. Photobiont not yet identified. Basidiomata clavarioid, unbranched to very rarely branched. Basidiospores ovoid. Other characters as in the family.
Index Fungorum number: IF803216
Type species: Ertzia akagerae (Eb. Fisch., Ertz, Killmann & Sérus.) B.P. Hodk. & Lücking, in in Hodkinson et al., Fungal diversity. 64(1):165-179 (2014)
Notes: This new genus is here erected for the phylogenetically and morphologically distinct species, Ertzia akagerae. The distinctive feature of this species is the thallus being formed by contiguous glomerules with a cortex composed of cells resembling the pieces of a jigsaw-puzzle (Fischer et al. 2007; Ertz et al. 2008). This type of cortex is very similar to the hyphal sheath found around the cyanobacterial photobiont in the unrelated genera Cora, Corella, and Dictyonema in Agaricales (Parmasto 1978; Coppins and James 1979; Chaves et al. 2004; Lawrey et al. 2009; Yánez et al. 2012; Dal-Forno et al. 2013). However, as various phylogenetic studies including the one presented here show, these groups are only very distantly to Lepidostromatales. The thallus type found in the genus Ertzia is somewhat reminescent of the ‘Botrydina’ type found in Multiclavula and Semiomphalina and certain Lichenomphalia species (Oberwinkler 1970, 1984, 2001, 2012). However, the ‘Botrydina’ type has usually smaller granules and the hyphal sheath cells are isodiametric-angular and not jigsaw-puzzle-shaped
Figure 1. Maximum-likelihood tree of nuLSU sequences of selected Basidiomycota focusing on Atheliales and Lepidostroma s.lat. Supported branches for major and order-level clades and for genus-level clades within Lepidostromatales are indicated by thick lines and both bootstrap support values (above branches) and Bayesian posterior support (below branches) are given (only values of 70 % bootstrap support and larger and 0.95 posterior probability and larger are given). Order-level clades are highlighted in color to facilitate their distinction. The newly proposed genera for Lepidostromatales are also indicated.
Reference:
Hodkinson, BP; Moncada, B; Lücking, R. 2014. Lepidostromatales, a new order of lichenized fungi (Basidiomycota, Agaricomycetes), with two new genera, Ertzia and Sulzbacheromyces, and one new species, Lepidostroma winklerianum. Fungal diversity. 64(1):165-179
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