Coccocarpia is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Coccocarpiaceae. Recent genetic studies suggest the genus originated in the Australasia–Oceania region during the Late Cretaceous period, roughly 76–100 million years ago, and later spread to Asia and the Americas. Some South American lineages are thought to have reached the continent via warm rainforest corridors that crossed Antarctica during the Palaeogene period, around 50–60 million years ago.
The genus is far more diverse than previously recognised, with ongoing research indicating it may contain over 200 species, and possibly more than 300, as many familiar names actually represent multiple distinct evolutionary lineages that are morphologically similar. These lichens typically grow as leaf-like structures in humid tropical forests around the world, with most species displaying a dull blue-grey upper surface and reddish-brown to nearly black disc-shaped fruiting bodies. Unlike many lichens that partner with green algae, Coccocarpia species associate with cyanobacteria of the genus Rhizonema.
Taxonomy and systematics
The genus was first proposed by Christiaan Hendrik Persoon in 1827. He did not indicate a type species; Rolf Santesson designated Coccocarpia molybdaea as the type in 1952. The genus was placed in its own family, Coccocarpiaceae, by Aino Henssen in 1963. She based this decision on the distinctive way the fruiting bodies develop: they begin as tiny initial structures (primordia) with upright female organs (ascogonia) that often have projecting threads (trichogynes), all forming within a tissue of loosely connected cells (paraplectenchyma). Coccocarpiaceae, as then circumscribed, comprised Coccocarpia, Peltularia, Spilonema and Steinera.
A 2025 publication assembled the first global, multilocus phylogeny for Coccocarpia and recovered the genus as monophyletic within the Peltigerales; earlier conflict over the position of Spilonema is interpreted as a sampling issue, with the most recent broader...
