@JoC @miked @mags49 @dejayM
Wondering if I have enough here to generate AGREEMENTS?
Initially started with my hard copy of DOBSON - mine is the 6th ed 2011 makes a good Christmas gift!! Lichens an Illustrated Guide by Dobson Frank
Then checked my favourites on line
Hypotrachnya laevigata. I am inclined to agree.
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I have attached a photo of Dobson’s key 2019.
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The BLS open to read Revisions of British and Irish Lichens, is an excellent resource. Vol 33 for Parmeliaceae is here. https://britishlichensociety.org.uk/sites/default/files/Parmeliaceae%20R2.pdf
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Page 28 has genus introduction & key. Page 31 describes H. laevigata.
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The colour of the medulla seems to be a useful character, but that’s probably not available now….
H. laevigata is not mentioned in iSpots keys I have looked at; it is common in, and perhaps restricted to areas of high rainfall in BI, so ZA
Time passes…
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One of several recent papers about the genus Hypotrachyna.
Historical biogeography of the lichenized fungal genus Hypotrachyna (Parmeliaceae, Ascomycota): insights into the evolutionary history of a pantropical clade. Historical biogeography of the lichenized fungal genus Hypotrachyna (Parmeliaceae, Ascomycota): insights into the evolutionary history of a pantropical clade | The Lichenologist | Cambridge Core
Hypotrachyna is a speciose genus of primarily tropical and oceanic lichen-forming fungi. It includes species with distinct distribution patterns, such as pantropical, restricted and disjunct species.
I had not thought of the Parmelias and Hypotrachyna in particular as tropical. We live and learn – an apposite motto for iSpotters.
And lichenologist in Kenya are interested too. What they report probably has implications for ZA too.
The genus Hypotrachyna, which is a speciose group of parmelioid lichens with a center of distribution in tropical area.
Recent studies demonstrated higher species diversity in tropical areas than previously assumed. We show that several species that were supposed to have wide, intercontinental distributions consist of separate lineages.
These are recent articles; while they sort themselves out, I have agreed to H. laevigata.
What struck me are the ‘pseudo-holes’ where the lobe tips overlap – it has been a feature oft noted in the past. I will recant at a later date if necessary.
GBIF here: Hypotrachyna (Vain.) Hale
has records for Hypotrachyna in ZA, but there seems no way to pinpoint the individual record (and therefore species) that each dot refers to. I think in the past one could do that on GBIF; maybe someone reading this can show the way.
Things we take for granted but should always remember about the lichens on this little peninsula - is the fogs that come in from the sea at night.
The first year I started looking at lichens was when the veld was really dry and there were no flowers worth photographing and yet the lichens flourished (date tag should link to others that day)
THEN - the same day (from the Witless Wonder) this got things humming Ha ha!! Fillow the comments when you have time.
GETTING sidetracked again
before I forget - I can’t copy the list of Hypotrachyna from the PDF file - but there are many.
Here is the archived link to Alan’s work I’ve just looked at it - but see what comes up -
Trying again
Yes, the last dragon site is no longer maintained but archived versions are available as you know. Try this one:
Seems to work even though embedded here…
Another observation with ‘pseudo-holes’
(Teloschistaceae, Ascomycota) based on molecular phylogeny
“Two subfamilies of the Teloschistaceae, Caloplacoideae and Xanthorioideae, have recently been proposed (Gaya et al. 2012). The Xanthorioideae was further subdivided into one teloschistoid and one xanthorioid clade, the former raised to subfamily level, Teloschistoideae, by Arup et al. (2013a, b).”
Reading further:
“The present study focused on the subfamily Caloplacoideae and included 72 species and 283 sequences.”
May wait for the dust to settle
Lichens, because of their habit, have no option but to wait for the dust to settle. All they can do is send off propagules to find a less dusty place.
Unless/until molecular studies can be translated into morphological characters that can be used in the field (or back home with our m’scopes) we are unlikley to benefit from them. But being in the field is, for me, what I care about.
I tried to do chemical tests in the field OH DEAR - not a success -
But I think you’re right - just being out there and seeing their beauty, gave me great joy. Is there a message there for mankind?
Was reminded today that Nov 22 2023 is the anniversary of JFK’s death BUT also, on the same day ALDUS HUXLEY (Brave New World) and CS LEWIS (Narnia) joined one another at the Pearly Gates.
It’s the year 2023!!!
and I was hoping to share more than just the names of Xanthoria species, found only from Southern Africa but still there is no easy access to the Article (NAMES most likely changed)
I had access when a member of the Lichen Society of GB - but the man-(oh dear, person?) in-the street needs to fork out for Article purchase
£26.00
TABLE 2. Character states in Xanthoria karrooensis, X. alexanderbaai and allied species
No wonder there is so little interest in South African Lichens.
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How soon will this become available - or if ever?
MEANWHILE
I’m hoping to share images of Lichens photographed in Caledon, Western Cape which may be one of these.
ALSO some from the West Coast,
THINKING of an easy way to tag them to share and maybe get some input.
The West Coast Species would probably be X. alexanderbaai - names have changed more than once
Dufourea alexanderbaai (S.Y.Kondr. & Kärnefelt) Frödén, Arup & Søchting
At a glance Table 2 suggests: lobes appear Thin and compact in terminal portions and convex and wrinkled in central parts,
Upper thallus surface yellow to reddish orange.
ALSO (from another paper): found only on relatively dry twigs in localities near the coast in the western parts of the Cape Province, Specimens examined. South Africa: Cape Province: about 100 km NNW of Cape Town, SSE of Langebaan, on slopes in front of the lagoon, 36°6’S, 18°2’E, 1987,
Described in WIRTH more fully - thallus - “or dirty greenish orange - has flat and thin lobe ends with paler spots on the upper surface, due to gaps in the algal layer” (has a picture)
THEN
Those we saw at Caledon might be
Xanthoria karrooensis S. Kondratyuk & Kärnefelt
Thallus lobes plane to convex, compact with hollow portion,
Upper thallus surface: Violet-reddish to brownish red when sun-exposed
Pseudocyphellae absent.
The Lichenologist , Volume 34 , Issue 4 , July 2002 , pp. 333 - 346
Wonder if this gets any reads?
The discussion – Open Access or Pay has been going on for a while.
This paper, Scholarly publications beyond pay-walls: increased citation advantage for open publishing, has **“**First, we aim to determine the total amount of scholarly articles freely available on the internet. Second, we aim to prove whether there exists a citation advantage for open publishing.”
Presumably they decided there is no advantage as the article is behind a Pay-Wall.
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There are some confounders involved. (Restricting themselves to publications from Norway eliminates some confounders, at the expense of possibly using an unrepresentative sample.) Publication in a prestigious journal, such as Science, Nature or Cell, is likely to give a citation advantage, and such journals tend to be behind paywalls. Publication in a predatory journal is likely to give a citation disadvantage, and such journals are (almost?) universally open access.
Anyway, the abstract says that open access articles are on average cited twice as often; as the article is paywalled one can’t see how they attempted to address the confounders.
Looks as if many of my Xanthoria sp. are incorrectly named - IN HASTE AS USUAL - added this comment and of course can’t edit.
It does exist, but what the latest name should be needs more work.
not finished yet!!!
We/re not the only ones 
Dated 2023 worth reading the replies
I’ve become utterly and totally confused as to what has and what hasn’t changed as different sources sometimes give different names as the current one.
For example the BLS Taxon Dictionary (and map) shows Caloplaca alociza as the current name but the FGB&I website gives Pyrenodesmia alociza…
Arghhh!
Jenny Seawright
List of lichen name changes? - UK Fungi
@JoC @miked @Chris_Valentine
I think we have a breakthrough here, but may need some agreements to sort them out tagged as myCombea
Posted today may be confirmed on line at CNALH
Sharing this link
A sketch of the lichen biota in a Renosterveld
vegetation habitat
Interesting survey (sketch) exploring the lichen flora and how the absence of aged trees and large rock formations, coupled with occasional fires in the Reserve produces a habitat which limits the species diversity. Nevertheless they found over 70 on three trips . The Reserve is 500 hectares, so there may be more to find.
Plenty of photos, limited descriptions as they had lots of references to hand.
