Category
page 1Lepidostromatales
Lepidostromatales
Lepidostromatales is an order of fungi in the class Agaricomycetes. It is the only known order of basidiomycete fungi composed entirely of lichenized members. Morphologically, the fruiting bodies of all species are clavarioid. Six species are known, five of which were described within the span of 2007–2013. Due to its morphological similarity to the genus Multiclavula, its isolated phylogenetic position (distinct from all other orders based on molecular data) was not understood until quite recently. The photobionts that have been found in association with members of this group are not known to
Lepidostroma
Lepidostroma is a genus in the family Lepidostromataceae (the only family within the fungal order Lepidostromatales). The genus is distinguished from all other lichenized clavarioid fungi (Multiclavula (Cantharellales), Ertzia (Lepidostromatales), and Sulzbacheromyces (Lepidostromatales)) by having a distinctly thallus (similar to a 'Coriscium-type' thallus) with scattered to dense rounded to squamules. Four species are known from the tropics of Africa and the Americas.