LICHALP

Agonimia bryophilopsis (Vain.) Hafellner

Syn.: Polyblastia bryophilopsis Vain.

Lichenised. Poorly known taxon.

Substrate: plant debris, living mosses, intermediate rocks (such as calciferous schists)

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 said to be similar to Polyblastia nigrata (a heterotypic synonym of A. gelatinosa), but thallus whitish-grey and ascomata subglobose and only basally immersed, the 8-spored asci with non-pigmented muriform ascospores; overgrowing mosses and plant debris on calcareous soil; apparently rare or not recognised in the Alps.