Assessment Notes

Justification

Burgellopsis nivea is currently known from only one site, growing on an unidentified crustose saxicolous lichen in Scotland, UK. As saxicolous lichens are are widespread, it is not possible to infer if the species has a highly restricted range or is broadly distributed. Thus, it is assessed as Data Deficient.

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Taxonomic notes

This species is thought to be related to Burgella clade but this lacks support. Microscopic analysis of Burgellopsis nivea shows differences between the two genera supporting the need for the new genus, Burgellopsis (Diederich et al. 2014).

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Geographic range

This species is known only from the type specimen which was collected from East Lothian, Scotland, UK in the Lammermuir Hills (Diederich et al. 2014).

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Population and Trends

As it is known only from the type specimen there is no information about population size or trends for this species. It is currently known from only one site, growing on an unidentified crustose saxicolous lichen. As saxicolous lichens are are widespread it is not possible to infer if the species has a highly restricted range or is broadly distributed.

Population Trend: Unknown

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Habitat and Ecology

This species develops bulbils over the thallus of a sterile crustose lichen or between thalline squamules (Diederich et al. 2014). The substratum, in the case of the only known occurrence is scree, and species have no visible interaction, and no mycelium has been observed. The species could be considered facultatively lichenicolous (Diederich et al. 2014).

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Threats

No threats have been identified.

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Conservation Actions

No conservation actions have been identified, but surveys are needed to document the species distribution, ecology, and population trend.

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Source and Citation

Canteiro, C. & Mueller, G.M. 2025. Burgellopsis nivea. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2025: e.T277431122A277520298. Accessed on 22 November 2025.

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• Country occurrence