LICHALP

Polysporina urceolata (Anzi) Brodo

Syn.: Acarospora urceolata (Anzi) Jatta, Biatorella urceolata (Anzi) J. Steiner, Sarcogyne urceolata Anzi, Sarcogyne urceolata Anzi var. herpes Norman

Lichenised.

Substrate: calciferous rocks

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 calcicolous species with an endolithic thallus, black apothecia immersed in pits, with prominent, rough margins, differing from the similar P. pusilla in having a lower hymenium (only c. 60 µm high); widespread in the Holarctic region, in Europe from the Arctic to the Mediterranean-Alpine zones, with several scattered records throughout the Alps, mainly in the alpine belt, but probably more widespread.