A conspicuous and easily recognizable lichen, forming pink to red-brown squamules with white margins. The squamule surface is sometimes pruinose and black to blueish apothecia are formed on their margin. It is a cosmopolitan species, however, a recent study showed that it consists of a several independent lineages, three of which occur in central Europe (five in Europe in total, Leavitt et al. 2018).
Psora decipiens is terricolous on calcareous soil. It occurs in xerothermic grasslands and in alpine habitats. It requires sites with low competition from higher plants, such as occasionally disturbed stands (due to pasture or substrate erosion) or soil in extreme habitats (e.g., strongly wind-disturbed sites or in rock cracks). The lichen can also be found in abandoned quarries. It is widely distributed in Europe, locally abundant (e.g., in the limestone Alps or Mediterranean). It is rare in the Czech Republic, only known from the Český kras (the Bohemian Karst), limestones in the Pošumaví region and the Podyjí National Park. The species is endangered and declining, mainly due to succession of its localities and eutrophication.
Literature: Leavitt S. D., Westberg M., Nelsen M. P., Elix J. A., Timdal E., Sohrabi M., St. Clair L. L., Williams L., Wedin M. & Lumbsch H. T. (2018): Multiple, distinct intercontinental lineages but isolation of Australian populations in a cosmopolitan lichen-forming fungal taxon, Psora decipiens (Psoraceae, Ascomycota). – Frontiers in Microbiology 9: 283 [15 p.].
taxonomic classification:Ascomycota → Lecanoromycetes → Lecanorales → Psoraceae → Psora
Red List (Liška & Palice 2010):VU – vulnerable
Red List (Malíček 2023):C2 – strongly endangered
Occurrence in the Czech Republic
All records: 32, confirmed 28. One click on a selected square displays particular record(s), including their source(s).