Dermatocarpon, with c. 20 species, is characterised by having a foliose thallus attached to the substrate by an umbilicus or by cord-like holdfasts, and a lower cortex composed of thick-walled cells, which makes it the only foliose member of the Verrucariaceae. Species delimitation within the genus is notoriously difficult because of the morphological plasticity of several species: a thorough molecular study of European material is likely to considerably modify the delimitation of several species. Important earlier treatments are those of Vainio (1921) for Northern Europe and Zschacke (1934) for Central Europe. In North America the genus was studied by Amtoft & al. (2008). A general key to European species was provided by Clauzade & Roux (1985), while Wirth & al. (2013) treated the species occurring in Germany. Good descriptions and a key to the British species are in Orange (2013b, see also Orange 1998). Very important are the studies on the species of northern Europe by Heidmarsson (1996, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2017), who, also on the base of molecular data, synonymised several earlier recognized species under a broad concept of D. miniatum. Pending a more comprehensive sequencing of South-European material, some of these taxa are still accepted here, albeit as infraspecific taxa of D. miniatum.
The present key includes all species known from Italy (Nimis 2016) and neighbouring areas in the Alps (Nimis & al. 2018), for a total of 10 infrageneric taxa.

References

Amtoft A., Lutzoni F., Miądlikowska J. 2008. Dermatocarpon (Verrucariaceae) in the Ozark Highlands, North America. Bryologist, 111, 1: 1-40.
Clauzade G., Roux C. 1985. Likenoj de Okcidenta Europo. Ilustrita determinlibro. Bull. Soc. Bot. Centre-Ouest, N. Ser., N. Spec. 7. Royan, 893 pp.
Heiðmarsson S. 1996. Pruina as a taxonomic character in the lichen genus Dermatocarpon. Bryologist, 99, 3: 315-320.
Heiðmarsson S. 1998. Species delimitation in four long-spored species of Dermatocarpon in the Nordic countries. Ann. Bot. Fennici, 35: 59-70.
Heiðmarsson S. 2001. The genus Dermatocarpon (Verrucariales, lichenozed Ascomycotina ) in the Nordic countries. Nordic J. Bot., 20, 5: 605-639.
Heiðmarsson S. 2003. Molecular study of Dermatocarpon miniatum (Verrucariales) and allied taxa. Mycological Research, 107, 4: 459-468.
Heiðmarsson S. 2017. Dermatocarpon. Nordic Lichen Flora, 6 : 19-25.
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.
Orange A. 1998. Dermatocarpon leptophyllodes and related species in the Britishes Isles. Lichenologist, 30, 1: 1-20.
Orange A. 2013b. British and Other Pyrenocarpous Lichens. Vers. II. August 2013. https://museum.wales/.../Orange-A-2013-British-and-other-pyrenocarpous-lichens.pdf
Vainio E. 1921. Lichenographia Fennica I. Pyrenolichenes. Acta Soc. Fauna Fl. Fenn., 49, 2: 1-294.
Zschacke H. 1934. Epigloeaceae, Verrucariaceae und Dermatocarpaceae. In: Dr. L. Rabenhorst‘s Kryptogamen-Flora, Band 9, Abt. 1, Teil 1. Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft, Leipzig, 695 pp.
Wirth V., Hauck M., Schultz M. 2013. Die Flechten Deutschlands. Stuttgart, Ulmer. 2 voll., 1244 pp.

Last modified: January, 14, 2023

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