LICHALP

Epigloea soleiformis Döbbeler

Non- or doubtfully lichenised.

Substrate: bark, lignum, living mosses

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 species resembling E. renitens, with 8-spored asci and ellipsoid to oblong, 1-septate ascospores (9.5-12.5 × 3.5-4.5 µm) lacking appendages; over algal colonies developing on moribund bryophytes, squamules of Cladonia, decaying wood and humus, sometimes lichenicolous on Placynthiella, with optimum near treeline; certainly overlooked and more widespread in the Alps.