LICHALP

Aspicilia serenensis Cl. Roux & M. Bertrand

Lichenised.

Substrate: calciferous rocks

Altitudinal range: from the submediterranean/colline belt (potential vegetation: mixed deciduous forests dominated by Quercus and Carpinus) to the subalpine belt (potential vegetation: open, taiga-like forests dominated by Larix decidua and/or Pinus cembra and Rhododendron)

Note: a recently described species, differing from A. calcarea (closely related), A. farinosa and A. subfarinosa in having a distinctly thicker thallus (with a thick medulla), larger apothecia with the pigment subdepressa-brown in the cortex of the thalline margin, slightly longer conidia, and a more orophilous distribution. The species might have been filed under A. calcarea in the past, and should be looked for throughout the Alps.