LICHALP

Micarea leprosula (Th. Fr.) Coppins & A. Fletcher

Syn.: Bacidia leprosula (Th. Fr.) Lettau, Bilimbia leprosula (Th. Fr.) H. Olivier, Bilimbia milliaria (Fr.) Körb. var. leprosula Th. Fr.

Lichenised.

Substrate: living mosses, siliceous rocks, , plant debris

Altitudinal range: from the montane belt (potential vegetation: deciduous forests dominated by Fagus sylvatica and closed coniferous forests with Picea abies) to the alpine belt (potential vegetation: treeless Alpine grasslands and tundras, to the lower limit of perennial snow and the equilibrium line of glaciers)

Note: a circumboreal species with a thallus as in M. submilliaria, consisting of bluish-grey, convex to subglobose areoles easily breaking down to form yellowish-green sorediate patches, but reacting C+ and Pd+ red (argopsin, gyrophoric acid), apothecia often lacking, ascospores mostly 3-septate, less than 30 µm long; on twigs of shrubs; certainly more widespread in the Alps, but overlooked.