Biodiversity & Conservation

Black shields - Tephromela atra

Tephromela atra

Image Harvey Tyler-Walters - Tephromela atra on upper shore rock. Image width ca 5 cm.
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Distribution map

Tephromela atra recorded (dark blue bullet) and expected (light blue bullet) distribution in Britain and Ireland (see below)

Why do the maps differ?

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Tephromela atra is not listed under any importance categories.

Taxonomy icon Taxonomy Taxon English term
Phylum Ascomycota Sac fungi
Class Lecanoromycetes
Authority (Hudson) Hafellner, 1983
Recent synonyms Lecanora atra
Map icon Recorded Distribution in Britain and Ireland Very common throughout the British Isles.
Habitat information icon Habitat information Found on well lit siliceous rocks and walls, in and above the splash zone and inland. Rarely found on trees.
Text page icon Description An encrusting lichen forming white, light grey or medium grey patches up to 10 cm across. The thallus surface is smooth, warty or cracked in texture. The fruiting bodies are large, distinct and composed of a black disc surrounded by a thick margin the same colour as the thallus. Fruiting bodies are up to 3mm in diameter and embedded in the thallus but rise to sit on the thallus surface as they mature. Mature fruiting bodies have a flat disc with a thick, crenulate or contorted grey margin.
Identifying features
  • Thallus white, light or medium grey.
  • Fruiting bodies with black disc and thick white to grey margin.
  • Fruiting bodies purple-red in cross section.
Additional information icon Additional information Closely related to species of Lecanora but distinguished by the structure of the reproductive bodies and spores. Similar in appearance to Lecanora gangaleoides, which can be distinguished by the neater fruiting bodies (colourless in cross-section) and chemical tests (see Dobson, 2000).

This review can be cited as follows:

Dr Harvey Tyler-Walters 2002. Tephromela atra. Black shields. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programme [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. [cited 03/09/2010]. Available from: <http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesinformation.php?speciesID=4436>