Ash dieback caused by Hymenoscyphus pseudoalbidus Queloz, Grünig, Berndt, T. Kowalski, T.N. Sieber & Holdenr. (better known by the synonym Chalara fraxinea T. Kowalski) is likely to result in significant loss of habitat as it spreads across Europe. In the UK the species is already under threat from loss of old ash trees and excessive shading as a result of inappropriate woodland management. In the UK, ash and sycamore buffered lichens from Dutch elm disease, now with ash threatened, only sycamore remains as a suitable habitat. ELLIS ET AL. (2012) proposed that lichens with more than half of all records on ash should be regarded as specially threatened, and this may be the case for W. dendrographa. Using IUCN categories and criteria, Cannon & Minter (2013) assessed this species globally as Threatened.

EUROPE: France, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, UK. NORTH AMERICA: USA. These records are probably within the natural distribution of this fungus. No information about altitudinal distribution was found.

There are over 800 records of this lichen-forming fungus.

A lichen-forming species occurring on rough nutrient-rich bark in wood-pasture and parkland, and lowland mixed deciduous woodlands. In the UK, it is very local in southern England with a few scattered sites north to western Scotland. Alnus sp.; Fraxinus excelsior L. (bark), Fraxinus sp. (bark); Quercus robur Hoffm. subsp. robur [as Q. pedunculata Hoffm.] (bark), Quercus sp.; Ulmus sp. (bark). No information was found about the photobiont. Nothing is known of interactions between this fungus and animals or other fungi.

Ash dieback caused by Hymenoscyphus pseudoalbidus Queloz, Grünig, Berndt, T. Kowalski, T.N. Sieber & Holdenr. (better known by the synonym Chalara fraxinea T. Kowalski) is likely to result in significant loss of habitat as it spreads across Europe. In the UK the species is already under threat from loss of old ash trees and excessive shading as a result of inappropriate woodland management. In the UK, ash and sycamore buffered lichens from Dutch elm disease, now with ash threatened, only sycamore remains as a suitable habitat. ELLIS ET AL. (2012) proposed that lichens with more than half of all records on ash should be regarded as specially threatened, and this may be the case for W. dendrographa.

In situ: none noted. Ex situ: no sequences were found in a search of the NCBI, GenBank database [www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov]. No living strains of this species were found in a search of the Culture Collection Information Worldwide on-line catalogue [www.wfcc.info/ccinfo/home].

CANNON, P.F. & MINTER, D.W. Wadeana dendrographa. IMI Descriptions of Fungi and Bacteria No. 1950 (2013). ELLIS, C.J., COPPINS, B.J. & HOLLINGSWORTH, P.M. Tree fungus: lichens under threat from ash dieback. Nature 491: 672 (2012). SMITH, C.W., APTROOT, A., COPPINS, B.J., FLETCHER, A., GILBERT, O.L., JAMES, P.W. & WOLSELEY, P.A. The Lichens of Great Britain and Ireland. x + 1046 pp., London: British Lichen Society (2009) [ISBN 978 0954041885].