Verrucaria epipolaea Ach., Lichenogr. Univers. p. 285, 1810

Pykaelae, Juha, Kantelinen, Annina & Myllys, Leena, 2020, Taxonomy of Verrucaria species characterised by large spores, perithecia leaving pits in the rock and a pale thin thallus in Finland, MycoKeys 72, pp. 43-92 : 43

Verrucaria epipolaea Ach., Lichenogr. Univers. p. 285, 1810

Type.

[Switzerland] Helvetia (H-ACH 686!, holotype?, piece on the upper left).

Description.

Prothallus not seen. Thallus pale grey, thin, continuous, up to 0.1 mm thick. Perithecia 0.26-0.41 mm, 1/4-1/2-immersed in thallus, sometimes with thin irregular thalline cover; ca. 70-100 perithecia/cm2. Ostiole inconspicuous, dark, plane or depressed, ca. 20-70 mm wide. Involucrellum slightly exceeding half of the exciple or reaching the exciple base level, 50-70 mm thick, appressed to the exciple or slightly diverging from it. Exciple 0.25-0.32 mm in diam., wall pale. Periphysoids ca. 30-40 × 1.5-2 mm, branching. Asci 75-117 × 25-37 mm, 8-spored. Ascospores 0-septate, (25.3-)26.8-29.6-32.3(-34.4) × (10.4-)11.8-12.5-13.2(-13.4) mm (n = 37).

Notes.

Verrucaria epipolaea is reminiscent of rare morphs of V. kuusamoensis with a pale exciple. It differs in less immersed perithecia by not leaving pits and in the consistently hyaline exciple wall.