Hello,

according to SVRCEK S. pilatii has hairs up to 280 µm only and remarkably pale to hyalin upper part - so why can this be S. pilatii nevertheless?

best regards,
Andreas

Velenovsky described the hairs as 2 mm x 25 um large, which roughly corresponds to his illustration. At the same time, he put it in Lachnea section "[beta]) Pili brevissimi, membranis tenuibus" together with short-haired members of Anthracobia, Pseudombrophila or Scutellinia. From the macrophotos of holotype (PRM 147295) sent to me by M. Sandova it is evident that the hairs are longer than Svrcek wrote, (160) 220-570 (650?) um, X = 420 um, N = 16.

The other thing is their shape and color. Both Velenovsky and Svrcek wrote they were dark brown just in the lower third, the rest being hyaline to yellowish and sometimes dull on top. Schumacher: "A common feature throughout the genus is a gradual discoloration of the hairs towards the apex, leaving the hairs yellowish to subhyaline above." I have one Scutellinia coll. (probably nigrohirtula) which grew on wood immersed 5 cm under water, the hairs are (light) brownish yellow. Also have I seen yellowish and crumpled hairs in some other (unrelated) collections.

I wonder about the hair roots in S. pilati holotype. I believe that hair bases correspond to their original length and if something has thick base with many roots, sometimes forked, then I would expect it falls among the long-haired species like scutellata or trechispora. Perhaps there are some slides with the type or T. Schumacher might have some notes from his type revisions?

The collection above is from the type locality of S. pilati but rather sparse. If you're interested in working on this taxon, I can try to ask for a permit to go there and collect a better specimen. (It's in I. zone of National Park now.)

Best wishes,
Viktorie