Unguiculariopsis Rehm
Type : * Unguiculariopsis ilicincola (Berk. & Broome) Rehm
Description : Lichenicolous or free-living. Ascomata apothecia, solitary or clustered, cupulate to discoid, usually with inrolled margins, sessile to subpedicellate, 0.1–4 mm diam., disc vinous-brown, dark-brown or cinnamon-brown when dry, vinous or orange when moist. Surface of receptacle furfuraceous, greyish white, pale vinous, to cinnamon brown, furnished with hairs (over whole surface of receptacle or just at margin); hairs with a swollen base and a fine, hooked apex. Ectal exciple of textura globosa to textura angularis, cells brown, walls thick. Medullary exciple of textura intricata, occasionally of textura angularis, hyphal walls subhyaline to pale-brown. Hamathecium of paraphyses, colourless, filiform, septate, sometimes slightly branched. Asci I−. (2–4–6–)8-spored. Ascospores spherical, subspherical or ellipsoidal, simple, colourless to pale-yellowish, guttulate, uninucleate, smooth-walled.
Unguiculariopsis, included in the Helotiaceae (Eriksson et al. 2004), is a genus of 22 species of which nine are lichenicolous fungi (Hawksworth 1980b; Zhuang 1988; Alstrup & Hawksworth 1990; Kondratyuk et al. 1994; Kondratyuk & Galloway 1995a, 1995b; Diederich & Etayo 2000; Diederich & Sérusiaux 2000; Etayo 2002). Unguiculariopsis is a small group of inoperculate discomycetes occurring on, or associated with, other fungi including various ascomycetes, deuteromycetes, and ascomycetous lichens. Their apothecia are small, cupulate to discoid, brownish, vinous, yellowish or pinkish. The outer surface appears furfuraceous because of the presence of short, characteristic hairs. One species is recorded from New Zealand (Kondratyuk & Galloway 1995b). A widespread parasite of Lecanora carpinea in Europe is * U. thallophila (Sherwood et al. 1981; Zhuang 1988; Bricaud et al. 1992; Hafellner 1993c, 1995c), and since its host lichen is very widely distributed on introduced trees in New Zealand, * U. thallophila should be searched for here.
