A new lichen species to look for on the PNW coast

Sticta torii
Keep an eye out for this new lichen species on the coast. It is so far known from only 5 sites, including 3 in Oregon: Cape Lookout, Cape Perpetua & Rock Creek (Lane County). All occurrences were on the outermost branches of trees on the beach fringe, exposed to ocean storms.

From afar it may look like a small Sticta fuliginosa (<2cm across), but up close you can see that the isidia are richly branched and clustered near the margins. The mature isidia are tree-like, supported by a basal stalk. There is a dichotomous key to the genus in the paper linked below.

The first iNaturalist observation of Sticta torii was recently submitted by one of the authors of the original paper.

Free full-text at:
Simon, A., Goward, T., Di Meglio, J., Dillman, K., Spribille, T., & Goffinet, B. (2018). Sticta torii sp. nov., a remarkable lichen of high conservation priority from northwestern North America. Graphis Scripta, 30(6).

Posted on 07 March, 2023 16:21 by lumenal