Gyalecta russula is a lichen requiring wetter, slightly basic rocks (basalts, calcareous schists) or ultrabasic serpentinites. It usually grows on vertical or overhanging faces of partially shaded boulders. Furthermore, it can be found on exposed stone superficies in wet screes. Antonín Vězda summarised in detail the ecology and distribution of the species in Europe (Vězda 1959). In the late 60s, the lichen was reported from the Krkonoše, Jizerské hory and Jeseníky Mountains. According to a recent survey of serpentinite areas, G. russula is present in several localities, where it had not been previously found, although they were studied in detail by J. Suza. This finding implies that in the Czech Republic, the lichen was probably overlooked in the past. Nowadays, its relatively large populations are known from the Slavkovský les Hills (Peksa 2011) and from the Třebíč region (Malíček et al. 2017). Therefore, it seems not to be an exclusively mountain species.
Literature: Vězda A. (1959): K taxonomii, rozšíření a ekologii lišejníku Belonia russula Kbr. ve střední Evropě. − Přírodovědný časopis slezský 20: 241−253.
taxonomic classification:Ascomycota → Lecanoromycetes → Ostropales → Gyalectaceae → Gyalecta
most frequented synonyms:Belonia russulaRed List (Liška & Palice 2010):EN – endangered
Red List (Malíček 2023):C2 – strongly endangered
Occurrence in the Czech Republic
All records: 8, confirmed 5. One click on a selected square displays particular record(s), including their source(s).