Spring Foray to Sandusky County
June 18, 2022
Back row left to right: Ian Adams, Dean Porter, Jim Toppin, Barb Andreas, Ray Showman, Cooper Johnson, Sophia Soboro; Front row left to right: Bill Schumacher (with Benny), Carole Schumacher (with Cash), Janet Traub –photo by Ian Adams
Our 2022 Spring Foray to Sandusky County was held on Saturday, June 18 at Ringneck Ridge Wildlife Area, a few miles east of Gibsonburg. The day turned out to be one of the coolest in June, with a nice dip into the 60s between peaks of 90-degree days.
We’re very grateful to the Sandusky County Park District for giving us permission to collect at Ringneck Ridge. Formerly a private hunt club, the 340-acre site has diverse habitats including open fields, woodlands, wet meadows and limestone barrens. The bedrock is Lockport dolomite of Silurian age. This fossiliferous dolomite contains minor amounts of limestone, chert and shale. It is bluish gray to gray, weathering to reddish gray to gray. The bedrock is less than 20 feet below the soil surface in this general area, hence there are a number of operating and abandoned quarries nearby.
After a morning of collecting, we had lunch just south of Gibsonburg, at the nearby White Star Park, which includes an abandoned quarry that is a popular scuba diving site.
We collected 47 moss taxa, of which 22 were new records for Sandusky County. Tortella fragilis is the second record known from Ohio, the other was collected by Henry S. Conard in 1950 at White’s Gulch, Jackson County. The only previously known sites for Sanionia uncinata in Ohio are in Cuyahoga, Erie, Lancaster and Ross counties. One of the two liverworts collected was a county record.
We collected 52 lichens, of which 38 are new county records. Agonimia opuntiella is particularly interesting. Ringneck Ridge is only the second record in Ohio for this species. The other specimen was collected by James Lendemer in Adams County in 2015.
SPECIMEN LIST
(N = New record for Sandusky County)
MOSSES
Amblystegiaceae
Amblystegium serpens N
Anacamptodon splachnoides (Froelich ex Bridel) Bridel N
Calliergonella lindbergii (Mitten) Hedenäs N
Campyliadelphus chrysophyllus (Bridel) Kanda
Drepanocladus aduncus (Hedwig) Warnstorf
Hygroamblystegium varium (Hedwig) Mönkemeyer var. varium
Leptodictyum riparium (Hedw.) Warnst. Sanionia uncinata (Hedw.) Loeske N
Anomodontaceae
Anomodon attenuatus (Hedwig) Huebener
Claopodium rostratum (Hedw.) Ignatov
Brachytheciaceae
Brachythecium campestre (Müller Hal.) Schimper N
B. falcatum (Grout) H.A.Crum N
B. laetum (Bridel) Schimper
B. rotaeanum De Notaris N
Bryoandersonia illecebra (Hedwig) H.Robinson
Cirriphyllum piliferum N
Sciuro-hypnum plumosum (Hedw.) Ignatov & Huttunen N
Oxyrrhynchium hians (Hedwig) Loeske N
Bryaceae
Gemmabryum caespiticium (Hedw.) J.R.Spence N
Ptychostomum pseudotriquetrum (Hedw.) J.R.Spence & H.P.Ramsay
Climaciaceae
Climacium americanum Bridel
Dicranaceae
Dicranum scoparium Hedwig N
Entodontaceae
Entodon cladorrhizans (Hedw.) Müll.Hal. N
E. seductrix (Hedwig) Müller Hal.
Fissidentacaeae
Fissidens adianthoides Hedwig
F. dubius P.Beauv. N
F. taxifolius Hedwig
Fontinalaceae
Fontinalis sp.
Funariaceae
Physcomitrium serratum (Wilson & Hooker) Müller Hal. [Aphanorrhegma serratum] N
Grimmiacaeae
Schistidium apocarpum (Hedwig) Bruch & Schimper
S. rivulare (Brid.) Podp.
Hedwigiaceae
Hedwigia ciliata (Hedwig) P.Beauvois
Helodiaceae
Helodium paludosum (Austin) Broth. N
Hypnaceae
Campylophyllum hispidulum (Brid.) Hedenäs N
Platygyrium repens (Brid.) Schimp.
Leskeaceae
Haplocladium virginianum (Bridel) Brotherus N
Leskea gracilescens Hedwig
Mniaceae
Plagiomnium cuspidatum (Hedwig) T.J.Koponen
P. ellipticum (Brid.) T.J.Kop. N
Orthotrichaceae
Lewinskya sordida (Sullivant & Lesquereux) F.Lara, Garilleti & Goffinet N
Orthotrichum ohioense Sull. & Lesq. N
Pottiaceae
Gymnostomum aeruginosum Sm. N
Hyophila involuta (Hooker) A.Jaeger N
Syntrichia papillosa (Wilson) Jur.
Tortella fragilis (Hook. & Wilson) Limpr. N
T. humilis (Hedwig) Jennings
Tortula mucronifolia N
Weissia controversa Hedwig
Ptychomitriaceae
Ptychomitrium incurvum N
Pylaisiaceae
Homomallium adnatum (Hedw.) Broth.
Thuidiaceae
Thuidium delicatulum (Hedwig) Schimper
T. recognitum (Hedwig) Lindberg
LIVERWORTS
Frullaniaceae
Frullania eboracensis Lehmann N
Lophocoleaceae
Lophocolea heterophylla (Schrader) Dumortier
LICHENS
Agonimia opuntiella N, second Ohio location, locally abundant
Alyxoria varia N
Bacidia granosa N
Bacidia suffusa N
Candelaria concolor
Catillaria fungoides N
Catillaria nigroclavata N
Chrysothrix caesia
Cladonia chlorophaea complex N
C. cylindrica N
C. furcata
C. macilenta var. bacillaris N
C. ochrochlora
C. peziziformis N
Coppinsidea croatica N
Crespoa crozalsiana N
Endocarpon pallidulum
Flavoparmelia caperata
F. baltimorensis N
Flavopunctelia soredica N
Hyperphyscia adglutinata N
Ionaspis alba N
Lecaniella naegelii N
Lecanora strobilina N
Lepraria finkii N
Melanelixia subaurifera N
Parmelia sulcata N
Parmotrema hypotropum N
Peltigera praetextata N
Pertusaria pustulata N
Phaeophyscia adiastola
P. ciliata
P. insignis N
P. pusilloides N
P. rubropulchra
Physcia adscendens N
P. millegrana
P. stellaris
Placidium squamulosum N
Placynthium nigrum
Punctelia missouriensis N
P. rudecta
Pyxine sorediata N
P. subcinerea N
Rinodina subminuta N
Scytinium lichenoides N
Traponora varians N
Verrucaria nigrescens N
Xanthocarpia ferracissima N
Xanthomendoza fallax
X. ulophyllodes N
X. weberi N