Loxospora elatina s. lat.

Loxospora elatina s. lat. was split into two species by Ptach-Styn et al (2024), Loxospora elatina s. str. and  Loxospora chloropolia. Except for some difficult intermediate specimens they can be separated by morphological characters (see the PDF below). In Loxospora elatina s. str. the thallus is at least partly tuberculate thalli with soralia that often fuse and tend to coalesce locally on the thallus or covering most parts of the thallus. In contrast, the thallus of Loxospora chloropolia is continuous to slightly cracked-areolate, but rarely tuberculate and soralia are usually discrete, rarely fusing and, if so, then only in older parts of the thallus. For most thalli this distinction is quite clear and obvious. Ambiguous thalli of Loxospora chloropolia can occur, which have tubercles, but in these the soralia do not fuse and coalesce to the same extent.

Ptach-Styn et al (2024) did not sequence any specimens from Britain, but did identify many herbarium specimens from Britain by their morphology. They identified 28 collections, of which 27 were Loxospora chloropolia and one was Loxospora elatina s. str. The Loxospora chloropolia specimens were collected from throughout the range of Loxospora elatina s. lat. in Britain, from Devon and Hampshire in the south to Caithness and Wester Ross in the north. Only a single collection of Loxospora elatina s. str. was identified, from a ravine woodland in East Lothian. Internationally Loxospora elatina s. str. was found widely through the range of the aggregate but Loxospora chloropolia was a European oceanic to sub-oceanic endemic.

It is suggested that clearly non tuberculate thalli of Loxospora chloropolia, with the soralia mostly discrete and separated and retaining their identity even where crowded and partly fused, can be confidently recorded as such by their morphology but that possible specimens of Loxospora elatina s. str., which may be a rare species in Britain, should be critically determined by sequencing or by an expert.