Eight Species of Caloplaca in Coastal Western North America

Abstract

Twenty species ofCaloplaca occur on seashore rocks in North America. Twelve of these have been studied taxonomically in previous papers, and the remaining eight are included in this study. Four of the eight species are new to science: C. ignea, C. impolita, C. inconspecta, and C. ludificans. All four species seems to be endemic to western North America. Caloplaca ignea and C. impolita are members of section Gasparrinia, while C. inconspecta and C. ludificans belong to section Caloplaca. The otherfour species--C. alcarum Poelt, C. brattiae W. A. Weber, C. coralloides (Tuck.) Hult., and C. litoricola Brodo-have been poorly known in some respects. Knowledge about C. alcarum in continental North America is still very poorsince only very scanty material is available. In a series of articles I have reported on the species of Caloplaca occurring on seashore rocks in North America (Arup 1992a,b, 1993a,b, 1994). This paper completes that series and deals with a remaining group of eight species. Four of these species are new to science, and the remaining four have been poorly known in some respects, e.g., relation to other spe- cies, ecology, or distribution. Two of the new species, C ignea and C. impolita, have well-developed marginal lobes and belong to section Gasparrinia. The other new species, C in- conspecta and C ludificans, are members of section Caloplaca. The new species could not be matched with any already existing taxa in the literature from Mexico and New Mexico (Bouly de Lesdain 1914, 1929, 1932, 1933, 1942), South America (e.g., Malme 1926), Europe (e.g., Clauzade & Roux 1985), or North America (e.g., Rudolph 1955). In Arup (1995) there is a key to all the species of Caloplaca occurring on seashore rocks in North America.