LICHALP

Strigula alpestris (Vězda) Hafellner

Syn.: Arthopyrenia faginea (Schaer.) Swinscow var. alpestris (Vězda) Swinscow, Porina faginea (Schaer.) Arnold var. alpestris Vězda, Strigula stigmatella (Ach.) R.C. Harris var. alpestris (Vězda) Coppins

Lichenised. Poorly known taxon.

Substrate: calciferous soil, plant debris, 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 critical taxon, often subsumed under S. stigmatella, from which it differs in the slightly larger ascospores; on plant debris and encrusting bryophytes, with a boreal-montane to -alpine distribution, reported from Scotland and the Central European mountains; from the Alps there are only scattered records (Austria), but the species might have been not recognised and/or undercollected elsewhere.