This is the first draft of a key to all lichens hitherto known from Italy. The key also includes non-lichenized saprophytic fungi traditionally treated by lichenologists, and several lichenized species known from neighbouring countries, which should be looked for in Italy. Lichenicolous, non-lichenized fungi are included only if they belong to genera with lichenized representatives.
The key, which includes 3.294 infrageneric taxa, is presently under testing, modifications can be expected almost every day. It is published online here to attract critical feedback from users - write to: nimis@units.it
This key is also the base for the Keymaker of ITALIC an online tool which – through multi-entry query interfaces - generates keys to subsets of species defined by their distribution, traits and ecological requirements. By using the Keymaker instead of this complete dichotomous version, you might shorten considerably the identification paths.

Last modified: October, 10, 2024