Parmelia is a genus of medium to large foliose lichens. It has a global distribution, extending from the Arctic to the Antarctic continent but concentrated in temperate regions. There are about 40 species in Parmelia. In recent decades, the once large genus Parmelia has been divided into a number of smaller genera according to thallus morphology and phylogenetic relatedness.
The Verrucariaceae are a family of mostly lichenised fungi in the order Verrucariales. The lichen-forming species, which comprise the vast majority of the family, have a wide variety of thallus forms, and include crustose (crust-like), foliose (bushy), and squamulose (scaly) representatives. Several characteristics of the spore-bearing structures, the ascomata, define the family, including their perithecioid form–more or less spherical or flask-shaped, with a single opening and otherwise completely enclosed by a wall. Squamulose members of the Verrucariaceae with simple ascospores, and without algae in the spore-bearing region are known as catapyrenioid lichens; there are more than 80 of these species. The family has several dozen lichenicolous (lichen-dwelling) examples, including a few genera that contain solely lichenicolous members. An unusually diverse variety of photobiont partners have been recorded, mostly green algae, but also brown algae and yellow-green algae.
Pilophorus acicularis, commonly known as the nail lichen or the devil's matchstick lichen, is a species of matchstick lichen in the family Cladoniaceae.
Calicium trabinellum, commonly known as the yellow-collar stubble lichen, is a widespread species of pin lichen in the family Caliciaceae. It was first described by Swedish lichenologist Erik Acharius in 1803 as Calicium xylonellum ß trabinellum. He made the new combination Calicium trabinellum in a later chapter of the same publication.
Parmelia omphalodes is a species of foliose lichen in the family Parmeliaceae. It is one of the several dozen lichen species first described in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus. Swedish lichenologist Erik Acharius transferred it to the genus Parmelia in 1803. The lichen is widely distributed, having been recorded in Asia, Africa, Europe, and North and South Americas. Morphologically similar–but genetically distinct–species include Parmelia discordans and P. pinnatifida.
Lepraria incana is a species of dust lichen in the family Stereocaulaceae. First described scientifically by Johann Jacob Dillenius in 1741, and then formally by Carl Linnaeus in 1753, it is the type species of the genus Lepraria. The thallus of this species is green to greyish-green, and powdery – as if made of tiny granules. These granules are soredia, which are asexual reproductive structures. Like most members of genus Lepraria, the lichen has few distinguishing features, lacking both a medulla and sexual reproductive structures (apothecia). Chemically, the lichen is characterised by the presence of the secondary chemicals known as divaricatic acid and zeorin.
Opegrapha vulpina is a species of lichenicolous (lichen-eating) fungus in the family Opegraphaceae. It is found in the Czech Republic, Dobruja, Romania, and the Italian Apennine Mountains. It grows parasitically on two species of saxicolous (rock-dwelling), crustose lichens.
Graphium samogiticum is a little-known species of lichenicolous (lichen-eating) fungus in the family Microascaceae. It is found in Lithuania, where it parasitises two lichen species that inhabit abandoned gravel pits.
Opegrapha verseghyklarae is a little-known species of lichenicolous (lichen-eating) fungus in the family Teloschistaceae. It is found in the Russian Far East, where it grows on the thalli and apothecia of the crustose lichen Ochrolechia pallescens.
Lichenopeltella coppinsii is a species of lichenicolous fungus belonging to the class Dothideomycetes. It was described in 1999. It is known to infect Verrucaria muralis and has been reported from the British Isles, Ukraine, and Moshchny Island in the Baltic sea.
Verrucaria vitikainenii is a species of saxicolous (rock-dwelling) crustose lichen in the family Verrucariaceae. It is found in Finland, where it occurs on calcareous rock outcrops.
Verrucaria oulankaensis is a rare species of saxicolous (rock-dwelling) crustose lichen in the family Verrucariaceae. It is found in north-eastern Finland, where it occurs on calcareous rocks on river shores.
Verrucaria ahtii is a species of saxicolous (rock-dwelling) crustose lichen in the family Verrucariaceae. It is found in Finland, Lithuania, Russia, and Switzerland, where it occurs on calcareous pebbles.
Solorina crocea, commonly known as the orange chocolate chip lichen, is a species of terricolous (ground-dwelling) and foliose (leafy) lichen in the family Peltigeraceae. The lichen, which was first formally described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753, has an arctic–alpine and circumpolar distribution and occurs in Asia, Europe, North America, and New Zealand. It generally grows on the bare ground in sandy soils, often in moist soil near snow patches or seepage areas. Although several forms and varieties of the lichen have been proposed in its history, these are not considered to have any independent taxonomic significance.
Heteroplacidium compactum is a species of areolate, crustose lichen in the family Verrucariaceae. It has a cosmopolitan distribution. It is a lichenicolous lichen, growing as a facultative parasite on other lichens, typically on non-calcareous rock. It has rod-shaped (bacilliform) conidia measuring 5–7 μm long, and ascospores that are 11–18 by 8–10 μm. Heteroplacidium zamenhofianum is a closely related species distinguished by having perithecia situated in the algal layer, and smaller ascospores with a more narrow ellipsoid shape.
Wahlenbergiella mucosa is a species of saxicolous (rock-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Verrucariaceae. It is a marine species that grows in the littoral zone, and therefore remains immersed in seawater for extended periods. Its photobiont partner is the green alga Paulbroadya petersii.
Catapyrenium boccanum is a species of squamulose (scaley), rock-dwelling lichen in the family Verrucariaceae. It grows on mortar or on calcareous rock. Its squamules are up to 4 mm wide, pale to dark brown with black margins and a black underside. Ascospores measure 11–15 by 5–8 μm. Because of its combination of squamulose thallus, simple ascospores, and lack of algae in the hymenium, this species is a "catapyrenioid" lichen, of which more than 80 exist in the Verrucariaceae.
Wahlenbergiella tavaresiae is a species of saxicolous (rock-dwelling), crustose lichen in the family Verrucariaceae. Known from several locations in the San Francisco Bay area of the United States, it is a marine lichen that inhabits intertidal zones, and as such is immersed in seawater on a regular basis. Associated algal species include the red algae Hildenbrandia and Mastocarpus papillatus, and the brown algae Pelvetiopsis and Fucus. Petroderma maculiforme, a brown alga, is the photobiont partner in the lichen.
Nigrovothelium is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Trypetheliaceae. It has three species. The genus was circumscribed in 2016 by lichenologists Robert Lücking, Matthew Nelsen, and André Aptroot, to contain species formerly in the Trypethelium tropicum species group. The type species, Nigrovothelium tropicum, was originally described by Erik Acharius in 1810, as a species of Verrucaria.
