GRAPHIS ScnIPTA

Moelleropsis nebulosa rediscovered in Sweden
STEFAN EKMAT{, PATRIK FRODEN and MARTIN WESTBERG
Ekman, S., Fr0ddn, P. & Westberg, M. 2000: Moelleropsis nebulosa rediscovered
in Sweden. Graphis Stipta I2: 15-22. Stockholm. ISSN 0901-7593.
In 1998, Moelleropsis nebulosa (Hoffrn.) Gyeln. wzls discovered in two
nearby localities in northwestern Skfure. These are the first Swedish finds
since 1960. In the new localities, the species occurs on thin mineral soil
covering coastal diabasic rocks with a sparse cover of vascular plants and
with few other lichens. It is argued that the species may have been overlooked
in this type of habitat. Old records were predominantly from anthropogenous
habitats.
Stefan Elcrnan, Department of Botany, University of Bergen, Alldgaten 4l , N-
5007 Bergen, Norway.
Patrik Frdddn and Martin Westberg, Department of Systematic Botany,
(Jniversity of Lund, Ostra Vallgatan 18-20, SE-223 6l Lund, Sweden.
Moelleropsis nebulosa (Hoffu.) Gyeln. has
been collected from a total of 15 localities in
Sweden (Ingelcig et al. 1993). The finds are
scattered over southern and central Sweden,
with a slight over-representation in the western
part of the country. The first Swedish find
was made in 1823 by G. Wahlenberg. It was
last collected in the province of Vtirmland,
central Sweden, in 1960. According to recent
literature, it was mostly found on sandy or
clayey soils in open, often man-made habitats
(Ingelog et al. 1993, Aronsson et al. 1995,
Almborn 1948). This is certainly true for the
southwesternmost part of the country, where
the two known finds where made in a clay pit
and on a sandy railway embankment, respectively
(Arup & Ekman 1997). Due to the
absence of recent finds, the species was considered
extinct from Sweden in the 1995
national Red List (Aronsson et al. 1995).
In July 1998, SE had the opportunity of
having Moelleropsis nebulosa demonstrated
by Dag Olav Ovstedal on a locality on the
island Sotra neur Bergen in Hordaland, western
Norway. Here, the species occurs on min-
eral soil covering shelves of a west-facing,
more or less vertical, siliceous rock. Apparently,
the species has occurred here continuously
at least since its discovery in 1978
(according to a collection in herbarium BG).
This habitat ecology contrasts strongly to what
has generally been assumed about the Swedish
finds. Could it be that Moelleropsis nebulosa
occurs primarily in fairly stable habitats,
where it has remained undiscovered by
Swedish lichenologists, and that its appearances
in disturbed, ephemeral habitats are of a
secondary nature?
To investigate this idea, the authors
visited the rocky coast of northwestern Skfuie,
southernmost Sweden, in early September
1998. Our first stop was in the small village of
Arild, where Moelleropsrs was discovered on
the very first rocky outcrop where it was
searched for! Later the same duy, a second
locality only about 300 meters away was
discovered. The Moelleropsis populations and
the habitats are described in detail below. The
names of vascular plants follow Karlsson
(l ee8).