Protoparmelia badia (Hoffm.) Haffelner

    Thallus crustose, 1-2.5 mm thick, smooth, rimose to verrucose, rather glossy, pale grey-brownish, brown, chestnut, brown with olive tinge, seldom delimited with a black prothallus. Apothecia numerous, 0.4-2 mm diam., immersed or sessile, disc flat to slightly convex, glossy, dark brown, exciple persistent, concolourous to the thallus and paler than the disc. Ascospores simple, ellipsoid to fusiform, pointed apices, 8-13 x 3-5 µm. Photobiont: Trebouxioid. Thallus in section : C-, K-, KC+ pink, Pd-. Not rare on siliceous rocks. Characterized by its montane trends, this species has been reported in coastal lichen inventories but this requires validation in order to exclude any confusion with some chemotypes of Protoparmelia montagnei  (the morphology of their ascospores, pointed apices, is the more reliable criterion for identification but some intermediate specimen have 'intermediate' ascospores). The pictures presented here have to be considered with all appropriate restrictions until a comparative analysis of the two species clarifies this issue. N.B. Highly variable species, probably parasite and with an overall aspect depending upon the host.