''Protoparmelia badia'' is a species of

crustose lichen Crustose lichens are lichens that form a crust which strongly adheres to the Substrate (biology), substrate (soil, rock, tree bark, etc.), making separation from the substrate impossible without destruction. The basic structure of crustose lichen ...

in the family

Parmeliaceae The Parmeliaceae is a large and diverse family of Lecanoromycetes. With over 2700 species in 71 genera, it is the largest family of lichen-forming fungi. The most speciose genera in the family are the well-known groups: '' Xanthoparmelia'' ( 822 ...

. It is a widely distributed, common species that grows on rocks.

Taxonomy

The lichen was first formally described by German botanist Georg Franz Hoffmann in 1796, as ''Verrucaria badia''. It has been shuffled between several genera in its

taxonomic Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

history, and has been associated with many

synonyms A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

. In 1986, Austrian lichenologist

Josef Hafellner Josef Hafellner (1951– ) is an Austrian mycologist and lichenologist. He was awarded the Acharius Medal in 2016 for his lifetime contributions to lichenology. Before his retirement, he was a professor at the Karl-Franzens-Universität in Graz ...

transferred it to the newly created genus '' Protoparmelia'', in which it is the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

Description

The

thallus Thallus (plural: thalli), from Latinized Greek (), meaning "a green shoot" or "twig", is the vegetative tissue of some organisms in diverse groups such as algae, fungi, some liverworts, lichens, and the Myxogastria. Many of these organisms wer ...

of ''Protoparmelia badia'' ranges in colour from pale to deep greyish-brown to yellowish brown. It has a texture that is areolate (a pattern of block-like areas similar to cracked dried mud) to verrucose (covered with wartlike projections), and is shiny. Its apothecia are

lecanorine A lichen has lecanorine fruiting body parts if they are shaped like a plate with a ring around them, and that ring is made of tissue similar to the main non-fruiting body part of the lichen.Field Guide to California Lichens, Stephen Sharnoff, Yale ...

(shaped like a plate with a ring around them), and typically measure 0.7–1.5 mm in diameter. The discs are dark red-brown and shiny, while the smooth outer rim is paler. The spores made by this lichen are spindle-shaped (slightly pointed at both ends), measuring 10–16 by 3–7

μm The micrometre ( international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: μm) or micrometer (American spelling), also commonly known as a micron, is a unit of length in the International System of Unit ...

Habitat and distribution

''Protoparmelia badia'' is a widespread and common lichen with a

circumpolar Circumpolar may refer to: * Antarctic region ** Antarctic Circle ** the Antarctic Circumpolar Current ** Subantarctic ** List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands ** Antarctic Convergence ** Antarctic Circumpolar Wave ** Antarctic Ocean * Arctic ...

and arctic-alpine distribution. It is found in western and northeastern North America, mountainous areas of Asia, Europe,

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...

South America, Australasia, and Antarctica. It grows on hard, exposed

acidic rock Acidic rock or acid rock refers to the chemical composition of igneous rocks that has 63% wt% SiO2 content. Rocks described as acidic usually contain more than 20% of free quartz. Typical acidic rocks are granite or rhyolite. Term is used in che ...

s, including

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

and other volcanic rock,

rhyolite Rhyolite ( ) is the most silica-rich of volcanic rocks. It is generally glassy or fine-grained (aphanitic) in texture, but may be porphyritic, containing larger mineral crystals (phenocrysts) in an otherwise fine-grained groundmass. The mineral ...

, and

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q10544236 Parmeliaceae Lichen species Lichens of Antarctica Lichens of Asia Lichens of Europe Lichens of North America Lichens of South America Lichens described in 1796 Taxa named by Georg Franz Hoffmann