Image of Gyalolechia fulgida

Description:

Slo.: no name - Synonymy: Caloplaca fulgida (Nyl.) J. Steiner, Fulgensia fulgida (Nyl.) Szatala, Lecanora fulgida (Nyl.) Hue, Placodium fulgens var. fulgidum (Nyl.) Boistel, Squamaria fulgida (Nyl.) H. Olivier - Habitat: stony path through dense low bushes, calcareous, skeletal ground; sunny, very dry place, slightly inclined terrain, southwest aspect; elevation 70 m (230 feet); average precipitations ~ 1.000 mm/year, average temperature 13 -14 deg C, sub-Mediterranean phytogeographical region. Substratum: hard calcareous rock. Place: West Krk island, west of village Brzac, at about halfway of a trail to sea shore, Kvarner bay, Adriatic Sea, Croatia EC. Comment: Closely related Gyalolechia fulgida and Gyalolechia fulgens (Ref.1) are both beautifully colored lichens. Gyalolechia fulgens is more common but still a rare species. First I thought I found Gyalolechia fulgens. However, later I realized that bare rock is not appropriate substratum for it since it (mostly?) grows on soil, mosses and sand dunes (it is terricolous species). There were several specimens at the place of this observation and all of them grew on bare, hard calcareous rocks (were saxicolous). This better fits to Gyalolechia fulgida (according to most sources). Gyalolechia fulgida also has lobulated thallus all the way to its center, while the thallus of Gyalolechia fulgens is usually smooth or areolate in the central region (Ref.7). Gyalolechia fulgens also prefers less arid habitats than Gyalolechia fulgida (Ref.4.). The habitat of this find is very dry, which also supports my determination. Yet, information about Gyalolechia fulgida I was able to find is very scarce (not mentioned at all in all my books) and sometimes contradictory. For example: several authors state also soils as substrate of Gyalolechia fulgida (some even exclusively) and others mention also calcareous rock as a possible substrate for Gyalolechia fulgens. Hence my determination isn't completely reliable. Ref.: (1) U.Arup, U. Schting and P. Frdn, A new taxonomy of the family Teloschistaceae, Nordic Journal of Botany 31: 016083 (2013). (2) https://www.arkive.org/lichen/fulgensia-fulgida/image-G63295.html (accessed May 7. 2018) (3) http://dryades.units.it/italic/index.php?procedure=taxonpage&num=1051 (accessed May 8. 2018) (4) https://www.asturnatura.com/especie/gyalolechia-fulgida.html (accessed May 6. 2018) (5) https://italianbotanist.pensoft.net/article/24852/element/7/gyalolechia/ (accessed May 7. 2018) (6) P. L. Nimis, The Lichens of Italy: A Second Annotated Catalogue, Edizioni Universit di Trieste (2016) (7) https://www.naturamediterraneo.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=282577 (accessed May 7. 2018) (8) H. Mayehofer, D. Steevi, A. Brudermann, B.R. Ftschl & P.O. Biloviz, New or otherwise interesting lichenized and lichenicolous fungi from Montenegro II. - Fritschiana (Graz) (2017) 86: 130. Available at: https://static.uni-graz.at/fileadmin/nawi-institute/Botanik/Fritschiana/fritschiana-86/fritschiana-86.pdf (accessed May 7. 2018)