This is a key to the species of Hypogymnia occurring in Italy, also including the genera Allantoparmelia, Brodoa and Menegazzia (Parmeliaceae), for a total of 12 species. Hypogymnia, with more than 90 species, occurs in temperate to subpolar areas, with the greatest diversity in oceanic to suboceanic climates. It is found on all continents, but in tropical to subtropical latitudes the genus occurs at high elevations only. All species usually lack rhizines and have thickened lobes (either solid or hollow), bifusiform spermatia, substipitate apothecia, and asci with eight simple, hyaline, ellipsoid to subspherical spores. Most have hollow lobes, a black lower cortex, small spores, and contain atranorin, physodic acid and related compounds. The genus presently includes also the genus Cavernularia (Miadlikowska & al. 2011). Allantoparmelia is a small genus of 3 species occurring on hard siliceous rocks in exposed situations, in more ore less arctic-alpine habitats of both Hemispheres; for further details see Thell & al. (2012). Brodoa, which also includes 3 species with an arctic-alpine distribution in the Northern Hemisphere, was segregated from Hypogymnia to accommodate the species of the former section Solidae. Menegazzia, which does not belong to the hypogymnoid clade, includes more than 70 species and has the main centre of speciation in the Southern Hemisphere. A few species only are known from the Northern Hemisphere, among which M. terebrata and M. subsimilis, which have a wide distribution encompassing Asia, Europe, Oceania, South and North America.

References

Miadlikowska J., Schoch C.L., Kageyama S.A., Molnar K., Lutzoni F., McCune B. 2011. Hypogymnia phylogeny, including Cavernularia, reveals biogeographic structure. Bryologist, 114, 2: 392-400.
Thell A., Crespo A., Divakar P.K., Kärnefelt I., Leavitt S.D., Lumbsch T.H., Seaward M.R.D. 2012: A review of the lichen family Parmeliaceae. Nordic J. Bot., 30, 6: 641-664.


Last modified: March, 19, 2022

Project Dryades, Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste - CC BY-SA 4.0