Psilolechia lucida

Psilolechia is a genus of four species, formerly included in the family Micareaceae (Eriksson et al. 2004; Pennycook & Galloway 2004), but now transferred to Pilocarpaceae (Andersen & Ekman 2005; Eriksson 2005). All species of Psilolechia are found in shaded, humid situations such as on vertical rocks and walls, in underhangs, and on clay banks or among exposed tree roots, rocks, stones, soil and plant debris. Psilolechia lucida is commonly seen on building materials in towns in the Northern Hemisphere. With the exception of P. lucida, the genus is still rather poorly known and collected, although it is widely distributed in temperate regions of the world (Europe, Macaronesia, North America, Costa Rica, Hawai’i, and Australasia). Two species are known from New Zealand, but the genus is still very poorly collected and understood here.