Peltula placodizans (Zahlbr.) Wetmore, 1970

Westberg, Martin, Timdal, Einar, Asplund, Johan, Bendiksby, Mika, Reidar Haugan,, Jonsson, Fredrik, Larsson, Per, Odelvik, Goeran, Wedin, Mats & Millanes, Ana M., 2015, New records of lichenized and lichenicolous fungi in Scandinavia, MycoKeys 11, pp. 33-61 : 43

Peltula placodizans (Zahlbr.) Wetmore, 1970

Peltula placodizans (Zahlbr.) Wetmore, Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 57: 179. 1970.

Basionym.

Heppia placodizans Zahlbr., Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 35: 299 (1908).

Holotype.

U.S.A. Arizona, Tucson, Tumamoc Hill. 1908, Blumer (W, holotype, not seen).

Distribution.

New to the Nordic countries. The species is widely distributed in arid areas of both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres ( Egea 1989). The nearest locality is found in Northern Italy (Vinschgau in South Tyrol; Buschardt 1979), and the species fits in the element of continental lichens with a widely disjunct distribution from the Alps to the upper valleys of southeast Norway. Other species with a similar disjunction include Buellia elegans Poelt, Gyalolechia desertorum (Tomin) Søchting et al., Psora vallesiaca (Schaerer) Timdal, Toninia sculpturata (H. Magn.) Timdal, T. taurica (Szatala) Oxner, T. tristis (Th. Fr.) Th. Fr., and Xanthocarpia tominii (Savicz) Frödén et al. The species is recognized by the crustose to subsquamulose, dark olivaceous brown thallus composed of areolae, which are up to 1 mm diam. and with marginal, black, granular soralia. The Norwegian material is sterile. The other Peltula species in the Nordic countries, P. euploca (Ach.) Poelt, differs in forming much larger, peltate squamules, up to 5 mm diam. The Norwegian specimen of Peltula placodizans is identified with some uncertainty, as the material for comparison (17 specimens from Europe, Africa, Australia, and North and South America, borrowed from GZU), was often more olivaceous brown than the dark brown Norwegian material (Fig. 8 ). Wetmore (1970) indicates that the species is probably a complex of several taxa.

In Norway, the species was found on a vertical wall of calcareous rock in a steep, west-facing hillside. The site has apparently previously been an open or sparsely wooded pasture, but is now in the process of being transformed into spruce forest. Other remarkable lichens collected at the site include Metamelanea caesiella (Th.Fr.) Henssen, Physcia dimidiata (Arnold) Nyl., Thallinocarpon nigritellum (Lettau) P.M. Jørg., and Toninia alutacea (Anzi) Jatta.

Specimen examined.

NORWAY. Oppland: Sør-Fron municipality, Harpefoss, along the trail W of farm Tåkåstad towards Mt. Lundin, 61°34.95'N, 9°52.55'E, alt. 490 m. 1 Oct. 2007, Timdal 11054 ( O L-158470), TLC: no lichen substances.

Figures

Figure 8. Peltula placodizans (O L- 158470). Scale: 1 mm.