LICHALP

Verrucaria praecellens (Arnold) Servít var. praecellens

Syn.: Amphoridium praecellens Arnold, Verrucaria hochstetteri Fr. f. praecellens (Arnold) Zahlbr.; incl. Verrucaria praecellens (Arnold) Servít f. insculpta (Zschacke) Servít

Lichenised. Poorly known taxon.

Substrate: calciferous rocks

Altitudinal distribution: montane belt (potential vegetation: deciduous forests dominated by Fagus sylvatica and closed coniferous forests with Picea abies)

Note: a species resembling Polyblastia dominans, with a whitish endolithic thallus, immersed ascomata without involucrellum (to 0.7 mm in diam.), the ostiolar region not exceeding the thalline surface, and ovoid to subglobose, halonate ascospores (to 45 µm long); on dolomite, only known from the type locality in the Eastern Alps (Italy).