In its traditional circumscription, Mycoblastus Norman is a widely distributed group of mainly epiphytic species found in cool temperate to arctic regions of both Hemispheres. The type species is one of the common crustose lichens of circumboreal-montane coniferous forests, but Spribille & al. (2011) showed that within M. sanguinarius s.lat. in the Northern Hemisphere, two species can be recovered, one of which matches the Southern Hemisphere species M. sanguinarioides (North America and Asia), the other corresponding to M. sanguinarius s.str.. The genus is currently considered to include 7 species in the Northern Hemisphere, and is placed in the Tephromelataceae (see e.g. Bendiksby & al. 2015). M. fucatus was transferred to the new genus Violella T. Sprib., which includes two species, and is characterised by brownish inner ascospore walls, brilliant violet hymenial pigment granules, and a different secondary chemistry (Spribille & al. 2011). Central European species were treated by Schauer (1964) and Wirth & al. (2013), sorediate species by Tønsberg (1992).
This small key includes the 3 species known to occur in Italy (Nimis 2016), plus a fourth species which is known from the Austrian and Swiss Alps, and should be looked for in Italy (Nimis & al. 2018).

References

Bendiksby M., Haugan R., Spribille T., Timdal E. 2015. Molecular phylogenetics and taxonomy of the Calvitimela aglaea complex (Tephromelataceae, Lecanorales). Mycologia, 107, 6: 1175-1183.
Nimis P.L. 2016. The lichens of Italy. A second annotated catalogue. EUT, Trieste, 740 pp.
Nimis P.L., Hafellner J., Roux C., Clerc P., Mayrhofer H., Martellos S., Bilovitz P.O. (2018) The lichens of the Alps - an annotated checklist. MycoKeys 31: 1-634.
Schauer T. 1964. Die Flechtengattung Mycoblastus in Mitteleuropa. Nova Hedwigia, 8: 301-310.
Spribille T., Klug B., Mayrhofer H. 2011. A phylogenetic analysis of the boreal lichen Mycoblastus sanguinarius (Mycoblastaceae, lichenized Ascomycota) reveals cryptic clades correlated with fatty acid profiles. Mol. Phylog. Evol., 59, 3: 603-614.
Tønsberg T. 1992. The sorediate and isidiate, corticolous, crustose lichens in Norway. Sommerfeltia, 14: 1-331.
Wirth V., Hauck M., Schultz M. 2013. Die Flechten Deutschlands. Stuttgart, Ulmer. 2 voll., 1244 pp.

Last modified: September, 20, 2022

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