Dichoporis Clem., Genera of Fungi: 40, 173 (1909).
MycoBank number: MB 1517; Index Fungorum number: IF 1517; Facesoffungi number: FoF 08854; 18 morphologically delimited species (this paper); molecular data not available.
= Diporina Clem., Genera of Fungi: 40, 173 (1909).
Type species: Diporina subsimplicans (Nyl.) Clem. [= Dichoporis subsimplicans (Nyl.) S.H. Jiang, Lücking & Sérus.].
Lichenized on bark and rocks in terrestrial, (sub-)tropical to rarely temperate habitats. Thallus usually ecorticate, whitish to brownish. Photobiont Trentepohlia. Sexual morph: Ascomata perithecia, usually dispersed but often dense, very rarely fused, immersed-erumpent to prominent, usually black or covered by thallus layer, lens-shaped to wart-shaped, usually carbonaceous, ostiolate. Involucrellum usually present and carbonized, very rarely reduced or absent. Excipulum prosoplectenchymatous, pale to brown. Hamathecium comprising 0.5–0.7 µm wide paraphyses, hyaline, flexuose, typically branched and sometimes somewhat anastomosing. Asci usually 8-spored, bitunicate, fissitunicate, cylindrical to narrowly obclavate, shortly pedicellate, with narrow ocular chamber, non-amyloid. Ascospores irregularly arranged to uni- or biseriate, fusiform to ellipsoid or bacillar, hyaline, 1-septate, very rarely with two obscure, additional septa, with thin eusepta and rectangular lumina, smooth-walled, often constricted (and sometimes breaking apart) at the septa. Asexual morph: Pycnidia common, immersed to erumpent, usually visible as black dots. Conidia typically acrogenous, either macro- or microconidia; macroconidia 1-septate, oblong-bacillar, typically with narrow gelatinous appendages 1–2 µm broad, about 3–6 times as long as broad, and about one fifth to half as long as the conidia, hyaline; microconidia aseptate, typically fusiform, small, hyaline.
Chemistry: No secondary substances known.
Type species: Dichoporis schizospora (Vain.) Clem., [as ‘schizopora’], Gen. Fung.: 173 (1909) [= Dichoporis ziziphi (A. Massal.) S.H. Jiang, Lücking & Sérus. (see below)].
Notes: Dichoporis is here adopted for a group of nonfoliicolous species that was already recognized as separate group (Strigula taylorii group) by Roux and Sérusiaux (2004), though not exactly in the same sense. Two names are available for this group, besides Dichoporis also Diporina Clem., established in the same work (Clements 1909) and based on D. subsimplicans (Nyl.) Clem. We prefer to use Dichoporis, as it better expresses the potential relationships with the genus Phylloporis and is less confusing than Diporina, since these lichen fungi are entirely unrelated to Porina and its allies. The implied differences between the two genera as given by Clements (1909), namely ascospores remaining intact (Diporina) vs. breaking into two part spores (Dichoporis) are not considered taxonomically relevant at the genus level, as molecular data show foliicolous species with ascospores remaining intact or breaking into part spores to be closely related (Jiang et al. 2020b).
Species