Peltigera
Peltigera Willd., 1787
| Common name | Pelt Lichens |
|---|---|
| Field Characters | Small to large leafy cyanolichens or tripartite cephalolichens. The tripartite cephalolichens can have photomorphs, where they switch to a bipartite cyanolichen morph. Thalli 1-30 cm across, composed of individual lobes to rosettiform or overlapping colonies, sometimes covering > 1 m square. Upper surface variable, often quilted, ranging in color from beige, grey, brown, to blueish-grey to emerald green. May be tomentose, scabrid, pruinose or smooth. Lobe tips can be upturned, ruffled, or downturned. Lower cortex lacking, lower surface typically covered in a network of veins and interstices, rarely lacking, typically with abundant rhizines. Rhizines vary in their confluence, branching, and tomentum. Apothecia born on lobe tips, typically on erect lobes that elevate the saddle, finger-nail, or hotdog bun shaped apothecia, more rarely sessile, round and flat on the lobe tips. Apothecial disk beige, brown, red-brown to black. Cephalodia when present typically on the upper cortex, in one species on the lower surface. Vegetative propagules present in a minority of species, ranging from soredia, isidia to lobules, laminal or marginal. |
| Similar genera |
Nephroma: apothecia born on the bottom of the lobe tips, lack rhizines.
Solorina: apothecia central on lobes, depressed to bulging. |
| Ecology | Found in every natural region, on rocks, logs, tree bases (rarely tree trunks), and soil. Most common and diverse in forested regions, with rare species found largely in the mountains and foothills. Surprisingly diverse in Edmonton, albeit largely restricted to the river valley and ravine habitats (Haughland et al. 2022). Because of their diversity, wide range, and relatively large biomass these are one of our most ecologically important genera, contributing to the many ecological functions related to soil, moisture and nitrogen cycling. |
| Chemistry | Not used to delimit most species, most species with no metabolites detected in TLC. A few species with hopane triterpenoids and tridepsides (TLC). |
| Molecular support |
High. Alberta benefits from a partnership with Duke University which resulted in >4,500 collections sequenced. We continue to work through the resultant phylogenetic and morphological revisions. |
| Links |
Species recorded in Alberta: 39 species, with some represented by multiple molecular species/clades that are hypothesized to represent undescribed species. This genus needs a great deal more work.
- P. aphthosa (L.) Willd. (includes 4 molecular clades)
- P. appalachiensis Magain, Miądl. & Sérus., 2023 Syn. in AB with P. neopolydactyla (Gyelnik) Gyelnik
- P. brittanica (Gyelnik) Holt.-Hartw. & Tønsberg
- P. canina (L.) Willd. (includes 2 molecular clades)
- P. castanea Goward, Goffinet & Miadl. (Goffinet et al. 2003)
- P. chionophila Goward & Goffinet (Goward & Goffinet 2000)
- P. cinnamomea Goward
- P. collina (Ach.) Schrader
- P. degenii Gyelnik
- P. didactyla (With.) J. R. Laundon (includes 3 molecular clades)
- P. elisabethae Gyelnik
- P. evansiana Gyelnik
- P. extenuata (Vainio) Lojka (Goffinet et al. 2003)
- P. frippii Holt.-Hartw., 1988
- P. “fuscoponojensis” in ed.
- P. “fuscopraetextata” in ed.
- P. horizontalis (Hudson) Baumg.
- P. islandica T. Goward & S.S. Manoharan-Basil
- P. jonii Timdal & Gjerlaug, 2023
- P. kristinssonii Vitik.
- P. latiloba Holt.-Hartw. (Holtan-Hartwig 2005)
- P. lepidophora (Nyl. ex Vainio) Bitter (includes 2 molecular clades)
- P. leucophlebia (Nyl.) Gyelnik (includes 5 molecular clades)
- P. malacea (Ach.) Funck (includes 4 molecular clades)
- P. membranacea (Ach.) Nyl.
- P. neckeri Hepp ex Müll. Arg.
- P. “neocanina” in ed. (includes 2 molecular clades)
- P. “neorufescens” in ed. (includes 8 molecular clades)
- P. occidentalis (E. Dahl) H. Krist., 1968
- P. polydactylon (Necker) Hoffm.
- P. ponojensis Gyelnik
- P. praetextata (Flörke ex Sommerf.) Zopf
- P. retifoveata Vitik.
- P. rufescens (Weiss) Humb.
- P. scabrosa Th. Fr. s.l., including P. rangiferina Magain, Miądl. & Sérus., 2023 & P. borealis Magain, Miądl. & Sérus.
- P. venosa (L.) Hoffm.
- P. wulingensis L.F. Han & S.Y. Guo
Click for a PDF key to the Peltigera of Alberta v2025
RENR Students: Know P. aphthosa, P. didactyla, P. elisabethae, P. leucophlebia, P. malacea, P. neckeri, P. scabrosa, and P. retifoveata – be able to key this species out or recognize them (they is also covered in Brodo et al. 2001 and Goward et al. 1994). In Goward et al. (1994) Peltigera extenuata is treated as P. didactyla var. extenuata.
Resources
Brodo, I. M. 2016. Keys to the lichens of North America. Revised and Expanded. Yale University Press, in collaboration with the Canadian Museum of Nature.
Brodo, I. M., S. D. Sharnoff, and S. Sharnoff. 2001. Lichens of North America. Yale University Press, New Haven and London.
Goward, T., B. Goffinet, and O. Vitikainen. 1995. Synopsis of the genus Peltigera (lichenized Ascomycetes) in British Columbia, with a key to the North American species. Canadian Journal of Botany 73:91-111.
Goward, T., B. McCune, and D. Meidinger. 1994. The Lichens of British Columbia Illustrated Keys. Part 1 – Foliose and Squamulose Species. Ministry of Forests Research Program, Province of British Columbia.
Magain N, Miadlikowska J, Goffinet B, et al. 2023. High species richness in the lichen genus Peltigera (Ascomycota, Lecanoromycetes): 34 species in the dolichorhizoid and scabrosoid clades of section Polydactylon, including 24 new to science. Persoonia 51: 1–88. https://doi.org/10.3767/persoonia.2023.51.01.
Vitikainen, O. 2004. Peltigera. Pages 389-399 in T. H. I. Nash, B. D. Ryan, P. Diederich, C. Gries, and F. Bungartz, editors. Lichen Flora of the Greater Sonoran Desert Region. Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona.
Vitikainen, O. 2012. Nordic Lichen Flora. Nordic Lichen Society, Göteborg.
