On Aspicilia serpentinicola and some other Aspicilia names

On Aspicilia serpentinicola and some other Aspicilia names 

ANDERS NORDIN 

Nordin, A. 2013: On Aspicilia serpentinicola and some other Aspicilia names. Graphis 

Scripta 25: 18–20. Stockholm. ISSN 0901-7593. 

A valid description of Aspicilia serpentinicola is provided. Aspicilia conglomerans (Nyl.) 

Kernst. and Lecanora obvallata H. Magn. are reduced to synonymy with Circinaria 

caesiocinerea and Aspicilia verrucigera, respectively. A lectotype of Lecanora 

conglomerans is selected. Reports of A. serpentinicola from Finland are erroneous. 

Anders Nordin, Museum of Evolution, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 16, SE-752 36 

Uppsala, Sweden. E-mail: anders.nordin@em.uu.se 

Revision of material from Finland has 

necessitated the formal description and the 

synonymizations presented below. 

Aspicilia serpentinicola A. Nordin sp. nov. 

Mycobank No.: MB 802931 

Thallus grey, rimose-areolate; apothecia 

punctiform, immarginate, immersed in thallus, 

to 0.2 mm in diameter; spores 16–25 × 11–13 

µm; pycnidia not seen; contains substictic acid. 

Type: [Czech Republic, Vysočina] 

“Moravia, ad rupes serpentinicas prope 

Mohelno, c. 300 m, Suza”, Krypt. Exs. 

(Vindob.) 2754 (UPS, holotype). 

Lecanora serpentinicola Suza is a nomen 

nudum, first appearing in 1924 (Krypt. Exs. 

(Vindob.) 2754) and in 1927, repeated in Suza, 

Lich. Bohemoslov. Exs. 48. A detailed 

description was given by Magnusson (1939), 

and the combination Aspicilia serpentinicola 

(Suza) Räsänen was introduced by Huuskonen 

(1949). Since Magnusson did not include a 

Latin diagnosis, by then a necessary 

prerequisite of a valid description, and Räsänen 

only cited Suza’s name, the status as a nomen 

nudum remained. Nonetheless the name has 

been frequently cited in literature (e.g. 

Santesson et al. 2004). Even more disturbing 

was the name A. serpentinicola Hue, which 

occurred in both Index Fungorum and 

MycoBank. There was no reference to the 

name, which was apparently due to the fact that 

Hue never used it. Neither I nor Claude Roux 

or other lichenologists I have consulted, have 

been able to find it. After this information was 

communicated to the administrators of Index 

Fungorum the name was suppressed. In spite of 

the misuse, the name is still available and can 

be retained in its original sense, hence the 

description above, which follows the more 

detailed description in Magnusson (1939), with 

the addition of the results of a TLC analysis. 

A. serpentinicola is a distinct species, 

characterized by the thin, mainly areolate 

thallus with punctiform apothecia. Like a few 

other species it contains substictic acid, first 

characterized from A. mashiginensis (Zahlbr.) 

Oxner (Elix et al. 1987) and later found in A. 

anglica Owe-Larss. & A. Nordin (Owe- 

Larsson et al. 2007), A. dendroplaca (Nordin et 

al. 2011b), A. polychroma Anzi (unpublished

GRAPHIS SCRIPTA 25 (2013) Aspicilia serpentinicola etc. 19 

results from TLC analyses of material collected 

by Anzi) and A. substictica Owe-Larss. & A. 

Nordin (Owe-Larsson et al. 2007). 

A. serpentinicola has been reported from 

Finland (Vitikainen et al. 1997, Santesson et al. 

2004), but material from H did not agree with 

the type. Of six specimens investigated, three 

belonged to A. laevata (or A. cf. laevata), one 

to A. cf. indissimilis, one to Trapelia coarctata 

and one to an indeterminable Aspicilia sp. 

Hence, it can be concluded that A. 

serpentinicola is not a member of the Finnish 

lichen biota, and will thus be excluded from the 

continuously updated online version of 

Santesson’s checklist (Nordin et al. 2011a). 

Aspicilia verrucigera Hue 

Nouv. Arch. Mus. ser. 5, vol. II: 48 (1910). 

Lecanora obvallata H. Magn., Kgl. Sv. Vet. 

Akad. Handl. 17(5): 119 (1939). – Aspicilia 

obvallata (H. Magn.) Vitik. et al. (invalid). – 

Type: [Finland], Tavastia [australis], Mustiala, 

1868, A. Kullhem (H, holotype; UPS, isotype). 

In the scanty type material of Lecanora 

obvallata the majority of the apothecia are 

conspicuously protruding and the surrounding 

thallus blackened. Although he only had the 

type at hand, Magnusson (1939) did not 

hesitate to describe a new species based on 

these strange apothecia, and without knowledge 

of the habitat, he dared to guess that it 

covered large areas and grew in a somewhat 

moist situation. Apparently he did not consider 

the presence of some more normally developed 

A. verrucigera apothecia, which sooner suggest 

that the strange apothecia are abberrant. [??] 

This is not contradicted by other characters, 

such as spore size and chemistry (stictic acid 

complex). In fact the protruding apothecia are 

more similar to those of A. laevata, a species 

that is sometimes not easily distinguished from 

A. verrucigera. Additional material of 

Lecanora obvallata from Sweden, collected 

and determined by Magnusson, belongs to A. 

laevata. 

Circinaria caesiocinerea (Nyl. ex Malbr.) 

A. Nordin et al. 

Mycologia 102: 1341 (2010). – Lecanora 

caesiocinerea Nyl. ex Malbr., Trav. Soc. Amis 

Sci. Nat. Rouen 1869: 320 (1869. – Aspicilia 

caesiocinerea (Nyl. ex Malbr.) Arnold, Verh. 

zool.-bot. Ges. Wien 36: 67 (1886). 

Lecanora conglomerans Nyl., Flora 56: 292 

(1873). – Aspicilia conglomerans (Nyl.) 

Kernst., Verhandl. zool.-bot. Gesellsch. Wien 

66: 283 (1896). – Type: [Finland, Nylandia], 

Helsingfors,1872, Norrlin (H-NYL 25258, 

lectotype selected here). 

In his protologue Nylander notes that Lecanora 

conglomerans is similar to L. caesiocinerea but 

has a thicker thallus and larger spores. The 

thallus thickness in Circinaria caesiocinerea, 

however, is very variable, particularly when it 

grows along seepages, and the few spores I 

observed in the type specimen did not exceed 

the extreme values of other C. caesiocinerea 

spores measured (c. 21.5–30.5 × 12.5–20.5 

µm). No substances were detected by TLC in 

the type specimen, while aspicilin occurred in 

various concentrations in the majority of other 

C. caesiocinerea specimens investigated (24 

out of 46). 

Miriquidica complanata (Körb.) Hertel & 

Rambold 

Mitt. Bot. Staatssamml., München 23: 382 

(1987). – Lecanora complanata Körb., Parerga 

lich.: 84 (1859). – Aspicilia complanata 

(Körb.) Stein, in Cohn, Kryptog.-Flora von 

Schlesien 2: 149 (1879). 

Aspicilia canina Räsänen, Ann. Bot. Soc. 

Zool.-Bot. Fenn. Vanamo 22(1): 82 (1939). – 

Type: [Russia, Karelia] Karelia Ladogensis, 

par. Kurkijoki, Koirasaari (= insula Canis), ad

20 Anders Nordin GRAPHIS SCRIPTA 25 (2013) 

saxa ferrosa aperta, Räsänen, 10 May 1936 

(UPS, isotype). 

The isotype of Aspicilia canina in UPS 

contains miriquidic acid. It is poorly 

developed, with only a few apothecia, and the 

thallus is unusually dark but falls within the 

variation of Miriquidica complanata. 

References 

Elix, J. A., Gaul, K. L., James, P. W. & Purvis, 

O. W. 1987. Three new lichen depsidones. 

Australian Journal of Chemistry 40: 417– 

423. 

Huuskonen, A. J. 1949. Havaintoja Luoteis- 

Enontekion jakalakasvistosta [Observations 

on the lichen flora of N. W. Enontekio, 

Finland]. Kuopion Luonnon Ystavain 

Yhdistyksen julkaisuja, sarja B, 2(5): 1–48. 

Magnusson, A. H. 1939. Studies in species of 

Lecanora, mainly the Aspicilia gibbosa 

group. Kungliga Svenska Vetenskapsakademiens 

Handlingar, serie 3, 17(5): 1– 

182. 

Nordin, A., Moberg, R., Tønsberg, T., 

Vitikainen, O., Dalsätt, Å., Myrdal, M., 

Snitting, D. & Ekman, S. 2011a. 

Santessons’s checklist of Fennoscandian 

lichen-forming and lichenicolous fungi. 

http://130.238.83.220/santesson/home.php. 

Nordin, A., Owe-Larsson, B. & A Tibell L. 

2011b. Two new Aspicilia species from 

Fennoscandia and Russia. Lichenologist 

43(1): 27–37. 

Owe-Larsson, B., Nordin, A. & Tibell, L. 

2007. Aspicilia. In: Nash, T. H. III, Gries, 

C. & Bungartz, F. (eds), Lichen Flora of the 

Greater Sonoran Desert Region. 3. Lichens 

Unlimited, Arizona State University, 

Tempe, Arizona, pp. 61–108. 

Santesson, R., Moberg, R., Nordin, A., 

Tønsberg, T. & Vitikainen, O. 2004. 

Lichen-forming and lichenicolous fungi of 

Fennoscandia. Museum of Evolution, 

Uppsala University. 

Vitikainen, O., Ahti, T., Kuusinen, M., Lommi, 

S. & Ulvinen, T. 1997. Checklist of lichens 

and allied fungi of Finland. Norrlinia 6: 1– 

123.

On Aspicilia serpentinicola and some other Aspicilia names

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