Peltula is a worldwide distributed genus of c. 40, mostly soil- and rock-inhabiting species, with the highest diversity in arid and semi-arid regions, or wherever arid microclimates are found, on seepage tracks of both acidic and base-rich substrata. It has a high diversity in the Mediterranean Region, which hosts all of the species known so far from the European continent. Soil-inhabiting species are broadly similar in appearance to species of Heppia (Lichinaceae), which differ in having 8-spored, prototunicate asci without an apical apparatus. The genus, which was monographed by Egea (1989) for the western Mediterranean region and by Büdel (1987) for southern Africa, was previously placed in the Peltulaceae (Kauff & al. 2018) but is currently in the Phylliscaceae within the Lichinales (Prieto & al. 2024). A key to European species is in Marques & al. (2013).
Last modified: July, 16, 2025