Phyllisciella Henssen
Type : Phyllisciella marionensis Henssen
Description : Thallus umbilicate, minute, dark-red, ±closely attached to substratum by a broad, gelatinous holdfast. Hyphae thin in a network, of cylindrical or angular cells forming distinct haustoria into photobiont cells. Photobiont green, a species of Chlorococcaceae or Entophysalidaceae, cells large, with red, gelatinous sheaths. Ascomata apothecia, pseudoangiocarpic, immersed, with irregular or punctiform discs, developing from pycnidia, a hyphal web of generative tissue or form intermediate stages; ascogonia with relatively thick cells. Hymenium I+ dark-blue. Hamathecium of paraphyses sparsely developed, slightly branched and anastomosing, indistinctly septate. Asci polysporous, cylindrical or bottle-shaped, with rounded tips, thick-walled, dissolving at maturity. Ascospores simple, colourless, globose or ellipsoidal. Conidiomata pycnidia, associated with ascomata. Conidia needle-shaped, produced at apex of conidiogenous cells.
Phyllisciella, included in the family Lichinaceae (Henssen & Büdel 1984; Eriksson et al. 2004; Pennycook & Galloway 2004; Eriksson 2005), is a genus of three species (Kirk et al. 2001) characterised by small, umbilicate thalli; pseudoangiocarpic apothecia with thick-walled, often bottle-shaped, polysporous asci, and sparsely developed paraphyses. The hymenial gelatine is I+ blue, and conidia are needle-shaped. Photobionts are members of the families Entophysalidaceae and Chroococcaceae, having large cells and a red, gelatinous sheath. For differences between Phyllisciella and the closely related genera Cryptothele, Phylliscum, Phylliscidium and Pyrenopsidium, see Henssen & Büdel (1984: 383–384). Phyllisciella apparently occurs only in the Southern Hemisphere with P. marionensis known only from Prince Edward I. in the subantarctic Indian Ocean; P. polymorpha from Argentina; and P. aotearoa from New Zealand (Henssen & Büdel 1984).
