''Cryptocalicium'' is a single-species fungal

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

of the order

Eurotiomycetes Eurotiomycetes is a large class of ascomycetes with cleistothecial ascocarps within the subphylum Pezizomycotina, currently containing around 3810 species according to the Catalogue of Life. It is the third largest lichenized class, with more tha ...

that was

circumscribed In geometry, the circumscribed circle or circumcircle of a polygon is a circle that passes through all the vertices of the polygon. The center of this circle is called the circumcenter and its radius is called the circumradius. Not every polyg ...

in 2021. It contains the species ''Cryptocalicium blascoi''. ''Cryptocalicium'' is the only genus in the monotypic

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Cryptocaliciaceae, the order Cryptocaliciales and the subclass Cryptocaliciomycetidae. ''Cryptocalicium'' is a representative of the "mazaediate" or "calicioid" fungi, a

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage of organisms or other evolving elements that is of mixed evolutionary origin. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as homoplasies, which are explained as a result of conver ...

group of independently evolved ascomycetes that share a morphological characteristic: the presence of a distinct structure in which loose masses of ascospores accumulate to be passively disseminated, called the mazaedium.

Morphology

Members of ''Cryptocalicium'' have very small stalked apothecioid ascomata that produce a mazaedium. The hymenium of the

ascomata An ascocarp, or ascoma (), is the fruiting body ( sporocarp) of an ascomycete phylum fungus. It consists of very tightly interwoven hyphae and millions of embedded asci, each of which typically contains four to eight ascospores. Ascocarps are mos ...

presents septate, sterile (i.e. not fertile) protruding elements. Their asci are clavate in shape with a long stalk, they are bitunicate with evanescent walls, and turn

amyloid Amyloids are aggregates of proteins characterised by a fibrillar morphology of 7–13 nm in diameter, a beta sheet (β-sheet) secondary structure (known as cross-β) and ability to be stained by particular dyes, such as Congo red. In the huma ...

after a chemical treatment with KOH and

IKI IKI may refer to: * Internationales Kulturinstitut in Vienna * Iodine potassium-iodide, a chemical compound * Russian Space Research Institute originally known as IKI RAN * Iki Airport, IATA code Iki or iki may refer to: * Iki Island, a Japanese ...

. The ascospores are globose to subglobose, simple, pale brown in color, with thick walls, and are passively released thanks to the mazaedium. The stalk has a

cortex Cortex or cortical may refer to: Biology * Cortex (anatomy), the outermost layer of an organ ** Cerebral cortex, the outer layer of the vertebrate cerebrum, part of which is the ''forebrain'' *** Motor cortex, the regions of the cerebral cortex i ...

, with the outermost layer composed of 1 or 2 rows of cylindrical aseptate hyphae, dark reddish brown in color and tightly adhered. The stalk medulla (below the cortex) is composed of cylindrical hyaline hyphae. The pigment granules on the external surface of ascomata appear dark violet in water, but after partly dissolving in KOH they turn turquoise green. In particular, the species ''C. blascoi'' is defined as a lichen measuring 0.15–0.36 mm in height without mazaedium, with a

peridium The peridium is the protective layer that encloses a mass of spores in fungi. This outer covering is a distinctive feature of gasteroid fungi. Description Depending on the species, the peridium may vary from being paper-thin to thick and rubbe ...

spherical or urniform in shape measuring 0.05–0.10 × 0.10–0.15 mm that appears dark violet when wet but black and shiny when dehydrated, with an ocre disk around the peridium, and a stalk measuring 0.10–0.26 × 0.02–0.04 mm that is smooth, black and shiny, sometimes with a broader base.

Ecology and distribution

''C. blascoi'' is a

saprobic Saprotrophic nutrition or lysotrophic nutrition is a process of chemoheterotrophic extracellular digestion involved in the processing of decayed (dead or waste) organic matter. It occurs in saprotrophs, and is most often associated with fungi ( ...

lichen, either solitary or gregarious, found on the inner side of loose but still attached bark strips. It has been observed in several Cupressaceae species of trees, such as ''

Juniperus oxycedrus ''Juniperus oxycedrus'', vernacularly called Cade, cade juniper, prickly juniper, prickly cedar, or sharp cedar, is a species of juniper, native across the Mediterranean region from Algeria and Portugal, north to southern France, east to westernm ...

'', '' J. thurifera'' and '' Cupressus sempervirens''.
It is found in multiple Spanish provinces: Ávila,

Burgos Burgos () is a city in Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the province of Burgos. Burgos is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence of ...

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

Soria Soria () is a municipality and a Spanish city, located on the Douro river in the east of the autonomous community of Castile and León and capital of the province of Soria. Its population is 38,881 ( INE, 2017), 43.7% of the provincial populati ...

, Toledo and

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...

Taxonomy

''Cryptocalicium blascoi'', along with its genus, family, order and subclass, were described in 2021 by Maria Prieto, Javier Etayo and Ibai Olariaga. The

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of sever ...

was found in La Cabilda Park, in

Hoyo de Manzanares Hoyo de Manzanares is a municipality of the Community of Madrid, Spain, and is located on the northwestern side of the community of Madrid and to the south of the Sierra de Guadarrama. It has a stable population of roughly 7,457 residents (INE 2 ...

(

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

). The

generic Generic or generics may refer to: In business * Generic term, a common name used for a range or class of similar things not protected by trademark * Generic brand, a brand for a product that does not have an associated brand or trademark, other ...

name "''Cryptocalicium''" refers to the calicioid (=mazaediate)

that occur hidden under the bark, while the

specific Specific may refer to: * Specificity (disambiguation) * Specific, a cure or therapy for a specific illness Law * Specific deterrence, focussed on an individual * Specific finding, intermediate verdict used by a jury in determining the fina ...

epithet "''blascoi''" is a reference to Javier Blasco Zumeta, an important Aragonese naturalist who showed the authors the first locality where this species was found and who provided additional material of it.

Phylogeny

Cryptocaliciomycetidae currently represents the closest clade to the subclass Eurotiomycetidae, as the cladogram shows.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q114152856, ncbi=2859728 Taxa named by Javier Angel Etayo Salazar Fungi described in 2021 Eurotiomycetes