This subcosmopolitan genus, treated in detail by Coppins & Purvis (1987), currently includes 6 species, and was thought to be closely related to Micarea, but Andersen & Ekman (2005) demonstrated that the two genera are only distantly related, and presently the genus is placed into its own family, the Psilolechiaceae. Four species are known to occur in Italy, but two species which were recently described by Palice & al. (2023) from the Czech Republic could occur in the country as well.

References

Andersen H.L., Ekman S. 2005. Disintegration of the Micareaceae (lichenized Ascomycota): a molecular phylogeny based on mitochondrial rDNA sequences. Mycol. Res., 109: 21-30.
Coppins B.J., Purvis O.W. 1987. A review of Psilolechia. Lichenologist, 19: 29-42.
Palice Z., Svoboda S., Vondrák J. 2023. Hidden in the dark under umbrellas: two new Psilolechia species (lichenized Ascomycota, Lecanorales) described from the Czech Republic. Plant and Fungal Syst., 68, 2: 285-293.

Last modified: September, 3, 2025

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