Two lichens for ID

[animartco]

Third ty to get image on this thread No it definitely isn't working now I click on the oimage and nothing happens Could you find it please? It is in my pictures. Is a pictur of two lichens on a satelite dish.

[animartco]

It worked this time! Didn't before.

[Chris Yeates]

hi

sorry to be picky, but that's a very small image (only 51Kb) - any chance of something larger? - the large one looks rather like a Parmelia species and the smaller a Hypogymnia, but . . . .

cheers

Chris

PS were these in Kent?

[animartco]

Hi Chris. I have put a bigger image in the Gallery. I don't suppose I can bring it down here. It'll be too big. Can you find it in the Gallery? No. It hasn't been processed yet. There is a problem with large images for ID isn't there?
Or does having Gallery in blue mean you go straight to it when you click on?

[FungiJohn]

Originally Posted by animartco

Hi Chris. I have put a bigger image in the Gallery. I don't suppose I can bring it down here. It'll be too big. Can you find it in the Gallery? No. It hasn't been processed yet. There is a problem with large images for ID isn't there?
Or does having Gallery in blue mean you go straight to it when you click on?

Where

Have a look at

http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/fo...otos-info.html

John

[AlanS]

Hi animartico.

Interesting lichen-friendly satellite dish you have.

And actually three species, though a larger image would indeed have been helpful to allow more reliable identification.

The greenish-brown one is a Melanelixia species (formerly Melanelia and back in the dark ages of prehistory, a Parmelia). The appearance is that of M. subaurifera, but without examination of the isidia (the fuzzy stuff in the centre of the colony), reliably accurate identification is not possible.

Around the margins of the Melanelixia is a greyish lichen, that from general appearance is a Physcia, most likely P. adscendens or P. tenella, but again we need a larger/clearer photo.

And thirdly, the round colonies of a dazzlingly white lichen. Once again, not possible to be sure from the photo, but Diploicia canescens is likely.

I don't recall any of these having a previously noted affinity to satellite dishes. Do they get you any extra channels?

Alan

[animartco]

Oh High Alan S Thank you very much for the IDs. What I would like to know are they rare? Because my neighbour wahts to clean his satelite dish. If I took the knocked off bits could I regrow them on something else? They probably grew originally on bird droppings. There isn't much else edible on a satelite dish! And it surprises me that there was no visible green in them. The white ones especially couldn't be photosynthesizing very fast? Unless of course, as you suggest, they are living off entertaining radio waves.

[AlanS]

Originally Posted by animartco

Oh High Alan S Thank you very much for the IDs. What I would like to know are they rare? Because my neighbour wahts to clean his satelite dish. If I took the knocked off bits could I regrow them on something else? They probably grew originally on bird droppings. There isn't much else edible on a satelite dish! And it surprises me that there was no visible green in them. The white ones especially couldn't be photosynthesizing very fast? Unless of course, as you suggest, they are living off entertaining radio waves.

No, all of these are common. Nutrient enrichment from bird droppings is a very plausible suggestion.

Actually, the lack of visible green is probably just protection from too much light. Diploicia canescens, in particular, is dazzlingly white when dry, but the surface is covered with light-reflecting granules. It usually grows in exposed, sunny places, where strong sunlight would damage the chloroplasts of the algae. In rain, the green of the algae shows through quite strongly.

I spend part of my time taking bad photographs of lichens, and it is the light reflection from their surfaces, particularly in bright sunshine, that messes up the photographs (and also throws off autofocus, which makes photography with a camera without a decent viewfinder for manual focus somewhat wearisome.) I think high light-reflection (albedo) is characteristic of many lichens.

Looking at your photograph again, I think the greenish-brown one is more likely to be Melanelixia fuliginosa subsp. glabratula, but as I said before, close examanation of the isidia is required to separate this from M. subaurifera. It is equally common and perhaps a little more adventurous in its choice of locations.

Alan

[animartco]

Thank you very much Alan. I live in hopes of finding something rare, but in Kent I don't suppose there is very much chance. I love looking at the pictures on the site. Some of them are unbelievable!