Dactylina
Dactylina Nyl., 1860
| Common name | Finger Lichens |
|---|---|
| Field Characters & Taxonomy Notes |
Fruticose, club-like chlorolichens. Inflated balloon-like or angular yellow, orangish to pinkish hollow branches. Lacking a primary thallus. May be largely unbranched or abundantly branched. Cortex shiny and crepe-like to dull, with or without pruina. Medulla thin and cottony around hollow interior or cobweb-like throughout branches. Lacking isidia, soralia. Apothecia rare, appearing as brown discs on branch tips.
Note: the taxonomic status of D. arctica subsp. beringica varies by author/source. Esslinger’s North American Checklist lists it as a species, D. beringica, as does Alberta’s conservation ranking system, ACIMS, and the Consortium of Lichen Herbaria. Other authors treat it as a subspecies, as does Index Fungorum. Given the two taxa are not morphologically distinguishable (Kärnefelt and Thell 1996) and require chemistry to separate them, here we adopt the subspecies status of beringica. |
| Similar genera & species |
Allocetraria madreporiformis: very similar in form, but more dichotomously branched, has a dense white medulla, has fatty acids detectable by TLC and is PD-. Some sources retain this species in Dactylina.
Cladonia: has a primary thallus, medulla dense around cartilaginous stereome. Thamnolia: white, pointed branches. |
| Ecology | In mountain habitats, both treed and open, in rock crevices and amongst moss and other lichens on soil. |
| Chemistry | Cortex K-, KC+ yellow, C- or C+ pink, PD-, UV- (usnic acid, ±gyrophoric acid). Medulla K-, KC- or KC+ pink, C- or C+ pink, PD- or PD+ red, UV- (±protocetraric acid, ±physodalic acid, ±gyrophoric acid). |
| Molecular support |
|
| Links | |
| Gallery |
-
- Dactylina arctica, Tombstone Territorial Park, YT
-
- Dactylina ramulosa, Kluane National Park, YT
Species/subspecies recorded in Alberta: 3
- D. arctica subsp. arctica (Richardson) Nyl.
- D. arctica subsp. beringica (C.D. Bird & J.W. Thomson) Kärnefelt & A. Thell (treated as a species in ACIMS, ABMI, Consortium of Lichen Herbaria, and Esslinger Checklist of North America)
- D. ramulosa (Hooker f.) Tuck.
Click for pdf key to Dactylina & Allocetraria in Alberta v.2025
RENR Students: Know Dactylina arctica – be able to key it out or recognize it (it is also covered in Brodo et al. 2001 and Goward 1999).
Key Resources
Brodo, I. M., S. D. Sharnoff & S. Sharnoff. 2001. Lichens of North America. Yale University Press.
Goward, T. 1999. The Lichens of British Columbia, Illustrated Keys Part 2: Fruticose Species. Research Branch, BC Ministry of Forests.
Kärnefelt, I. & A. Thell. A new classification for the Dactylina/Dufourea complex. Nova Hedwigia 62: 487-511.
Thomson, J. W. & C. D. Bird. 1978. The lichen genus Dactylina in North America. Canadian Journal of Botany 56: 1602- 1624.
