Moriola | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Fungi |
Division: | Ascomycota |
Class: | Eurotiomycetes |
Order: | Verrucariales |
Family: | Verrucariaceae |
Genus: | Moriola Norman (1872) |
Type species | |
Moriola descensa Norman (1872)
| |
Species | |
See text | |
Synonyms[1] | |
Moriola is a poorly-known genus of fungi in the family Verrucariaceae.[2] It has 17 species. Members of the genus parasitise various algal species;[3] some species are considered to be saprotrophic or "doubtfully lichenized".[4]
The genus was proposed by Norwegian botanist Johannes M. Norman in 1872.[5] He did not designate a type species for the genus, but Moriola descensa was proposed as lectotype by Frederic Clements and Cornelius Lott Shear in 1931.[6] Ove Eriksson suggested that M. pseudomyces would be a better choice as type.[7] Moriola fungi are not very well known, and many species in the genus are known only from their type specimens, collected by Norman from Norway or Tyrol.[3] Only a single species of Moriola has been recollected (from France) and documented in the 20th century.[8] As of 2016, there was no molecular data for any members of the genus.[9]
Moriola was previously classified in the order Dothideomycetes.[3] However, some authors noticed a similarity to the Verrucariales genus Merismatium, such as the lack of periphysoids and the plurilocular to muriform brownish spores.[10][11] Consequently, Moriola was placed in the Verrucariaceae in a 2016 review of lichen classification.[9]
The family Moriolaceae was proposed by Alexander Zahlbruckner in 1898 to contain the genus,[12] but this family has not been used in two recent reviews of fungal classification.[9][2]
As of October 2022[update], Species Fungorum (in the Catalogue of Life) accepts 17 species of Moriola.[13]