Scaly Dog Pelt Lichen

not listed

NNR - Unranked

not listed

There are two species of pelt lichens that are widely known by the same common name “Scaly Pelt Lichen,” Peltigera lepidophora and Peltigera praetextata. Both are common around the world, and both occur in Minnesota. Wikipedia has begun using a different common name for one of them. While not widely accepted, it has the merit of avoiding confusion between the two species. For that reason, MinnesotaSeasons.com will follow the lead of Wikipedia by assigning Peltigera praetextata the common name “Scaly Dog Pelt Lichen.”

Scaly Dog Pelt Lichen is a common and widely distributed leafy lichen. It is native to Europe, Asia, and North America. In the United States it occurs east of the Great Plains and west of the Rocky Mountains, and is mostly absent in between. It is uncommon in Minnesota, where it reaches the western extent of its range. It often grows over moss on rock or bark, sometimes also on bare soil.

Scaly Dog Pelt Lichen often grows with a roughly circular form 2″ to 12″ (5 to 30 cm) in diameter. The vegetative body (thallus) is leaf-like (foliose), with elongated and more or less flattened lobes. They are attached to the soil at occasional points by scattered anchoring structures (rhizines). The rhizines are white to brown, slender, and little branched. The lobes are up to 13⁄16″ (3 cm) wide, up to 2″ (5 cm) long, rounded or almost straight across (subtruncate) at the tip, and often ascending at the tip. Adjacent lobes may overlap or be separate. The upper surface is blackish-green when wet and either gray or white to bluish-gray when dry. It is smooth, dull, and thinly to thickly covered with whitish-gray hairs, often becoming reddish-brown and hairless or almost hairless towards the center. Isidia and soredia are not produced. Scattered to dense tiny reproductive structures (phyllidia) appear along the margins and in cracks in the thallus. The phyllidia are 1⁄64″ to 1⁄16″ (0.5 to 1.5 mm) wide and may be wart-like or scale-like. This is the feature that gives the species part of its common name. The underside of the thallus is white with a network of smooth, flattened, pale to medium brown veins.

Sexual (spore-producing) reproductive structures (apothecia) on the margins of the thallus are frequent. The apothecia are up to ¼″ (7 mm) in diameter, oblong to more or less round, and curved inward, appearing saddle shaped. The disc is flat, smooth, and reddish-brown to brown.

Ground

Foliose

Moss on rock or bark, and bare soil

Sources

4, 24, 26, 29, 30, 77, 81.

Location: Whitewater WMA, Main Branch Unit