Image of dimple lichen

Description:

Slo.:? - syn.: Gyalecta cupularis (Hedw.) Schaer., Lecidea cupularis (Hedw.) Ach., Cappellettia cupularis (Hedw.) Tomas. & Cif. - Habitat: narrow canyon; stony, vertical, calcareous, manmade supporting wall; north aspect; very humid place with no sun most of the year; in total shade; about 1.5 m above the mountain stream; exposed to direct rain; average precipitations ~ 3.000 mm/year, average temperature 8-10 deg C, elevation 470 m 1.530 feet), alpine phytogeographical region. Substratum: calcareous rocks of a vertical wall of a bridge over a mountain stream. Comments: Gyalecta jenensis is a quite common but nice small jewel among crustose, saxicolous (growing on rocks) lichens. It has waxy-looking, from pale or vividly yellow to deep orange apothecia with whitish, usually cracked to segments margins. The inconspicuous thallus is grayish with sometimes pink tint but often covered by dark layer of cyanobacteria, which makes its appearance black (Ref.:1). It is often found together with Trentepohlia aurea, an orange filamentous algae capable to live outside water (see orange tufts on pictures 11b and 12b). The photobiont of Gyalecta jenensis is also Trentepohlia algae. This species was photographed at this place almost exactly ten years ago. Ref.: (1) I.M. Brodo, S.D. Sharnoff, S.Sharnoff, Lichens of North America, Yale Uni. Press (2001), p 329. (2) V. Wirth, R. Duell, Farbatlas Flechten und Moose, Ulmer, (2000), p 410. (3) C.W.Smith, et all, The lichens of Great Britain and Ireland,The British Lichen Society (2009), p 255. (4) F.S. Dobson, Lichens, The Richmonds Publishing Ca.LTD (2005), p 183. (5) http://www.aphotoflora.com/algae_trentepohlia_aurea_orange.html (Trentepohlia aurea) (accessed Feb. 12. 2018)