Heteroplacidium
Heteroplacidium
Genus of lichens
Heteroplacidium is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Verrucariaceae.[1] The genus was circumscribed by Austrian lichenologist Othmar Breuss in 1996 with Heteroplacidium imbricatum assigned as the type species. It was proposed as a segregate of Catapyrenium.[2] Other morphologically similar genera are Neocatapyrenium, Placidium, and Scleropyrenium, although molecular phylogenetic analyses indicate that they are independent monophyletic lineages within the Verrucariaceae.[3][4]
Most Heteroplacidium species are autonomous lichens, generally crustose and areolate. Four species in the genus are obligate parasites or facultatively lichenicolous – H. compactum, H. fusculum, H. transmutans, and H. zamenhofianum.[5]
