Abstract:
Lichenicolous fungi are the parasitic fungi that only lives on the lichen thallus. Sometime
these lichenicolous fungi can reduce the relative growth rates of the lichen thallus. In
this study, lichenicolous fungi were isolated and identified from selected lichen species in
Belihuloya area. Wangedigala and Paraviyangala are the sample collecting areas which
have identical climatic features for lichen growth. Both Wangedigala and Paraviyangala
forest areas were mostly covered with Pinus vegetation. So almost all the lichen samples
were collected from bark of the Pinus trees and from the rock surfaces. Most of the
collected lichen samples were Parmotrema sp. and crustose lichens. Oddly color spots,
Discolorations of the thallus and gall like structures were helped to identify lichenicolous
fungi on the lichens in the field. Potato Dextrose Agar was used as a culture media
and direct plate method were used to inoculate the fungi fruiting bodies and fungal
hyphae. When using fungal hyphae, sterilized needle was used to inoculate with the
help of dissecting microscope. Before using fungal fruiting bodies for inoculation, surface
sterilization was done with 70% ethanol solution. Macro morphological characters of the
fungal colonies were used for species identification of lichenicolous fungi. Fifteen different
species of lichenicolous fungi were identified from the collected lichen samples based on
colony characters, indicating they are very successful in Belihuloya area. All species of
fungi are slow growers in the culture media and these parasitic fungi has degraded some
host lichen species to a level that lichen was unidentifiable.
