LICHALP

Micarea submilliaria (Nyl.) Coppins

Syn.: Bacidia subleprosula Vězda, Bilimbia submilliaria (Nyl.) Arnold, Lecidea granulans Vain., Lecidea submilliaria Nyl., Micarea granulans (Vain.) Timdal, Micarea subleprosula (Vězda) Vězda

Lichenised.

Substrate: living mosses

Altitudinal range: from the subalpine belt (potential vegetation: open, taiga-like forests dominated by Larix decidua and/or Pinus cembra and Rhododendron) 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 species with a thallus as in M. leprosula, of bluish-grey, convex to subglobose areoles which easily break down to form yellowish-green sorediate patches, but reacting C+ red, Pd+ yellow (alectorialic acid), apothecia often lacking, black with a bluish pruina, ascospores 3- to 7-septate, more than 35 µm long; overgrowing mosses and plant remnants on siliceous rocks in alpine heaths; widespread but rare, perhaps overlooked, being often sterile, with a few records from the Eastern Alps.