Gyalecta nidarosiensis (Kindt) Baloch & Lücking

A lichen with pink to orange-pink thallus, fading soon in the herbarium, containing trentepohlioid algae. According to the literature (Purvis & Orange 2009), it is a powdery-granular thallus, composed of granules 20–30 µm in diameter. Macroscopically, however, it resembles a sorediate crust, which is absent in identification keys to sorediate lichens. The fruiting bodies are often absent, closed and pale pink. It is because of the perithecioid shape that the species was until recently placed in the genus Belonia.

It is a calciphilous lichen that prefers vertical to overhanging limestone rocks. However, some of the data come from anthropogenic habitats, typically walls (e.g. Dietrich 2015). The distribution shows clear oceanic tendencies. In the British Isles, for example, it is a locally common species (Purvis & Orange 2009). In Central Europe, on the other hand, it occurs sporadically and the first Czech finding comes from 2022. So far, the only record from the Suchý žleb valley in the Moravian Karst is one of the most easterly sites ever recorded. Here, G. nidarosiensis grows on vertical limestone rocks accompanied by the lichen Lecanora rouxii and algae of the genus Trentepohlia. Its thalli form initially punctiform ‚soralia‘, which later merge into a continuous layer of ‚soredia‘.

Literature: Purvis O. W. & Orange A. (2009): Belonia Körb. ex Nyl. (1857). – In: Smith C. W. et al. [eds], The lichens of Great Britain and Ireland, p. 211–212, The British Lichen Society, London. Dietrich M. (2015): Gyalecta nidarosiensis auf der Burgruine Nünegg in Lieli (Kanton Luzern) erstmals in der Schweiz nachgewiesen. – Herzogia 28: 798–801. Bouda F., Ghlimová H., Hlisnikovský D., Jerhot Š., Syrovátková L., Uhlík P. & Malíček J. (2023): Lišejníky zaznamenané během 34. bryologicko-lichenologických dní na Drahanské vrchovině. – Bryonora 71: 42–53.

Ascomycota → Lecanoromycetes → Ostropales → Gyalectaceae → Gyalecta