Identifying lichen species of the World
(Experimental subset with Southern Africa p. pte.)
To run the Java applet, the most recent version of Java™ Runtime Environment
needs to be downloaded and installed first. For usage of the context menu, Java v. 6.0 or above is required.
The address of this web site (http://lias.net)
needs to be included in the list of allowed sites of the web browser's pop-up blocker settings. Detailed instructions are provided further below.
An interactive key using
The various query options are to be accessed via Options tab sheet. For further details, consult the hints
How to use LIASlight NaviKey.
For definitions and explanations of terms used for characters and character states, consult the LIAS glossary.
Usage of the applet:
- top left – Character panel: selection of characters. Characters are classified according to their (statistical) reliability status:
● with high reliability (preferably to be selected when starting an identification procedure),
○ with mean, and · with low reliability.
- top right – Character states or numeric data panel: preselection of states of the selected character.
For selecting more than one character state at the same time, press the <CTRL> button plus the respective character states.
(To finalize the query for a selected character, click the <Select> or <Add> menu button and then persue the identification process with another character.)
- bottom left – Query criteria panel: display of previous character state selections.
It is possible to deselect a previous choice by selecting it and subsequently pressing the <Remove Selection> button.
- bottom right – Matching items panel: display of matching items (selecting any item will bring up a complete description of that item).
Selecting a taxon with the right mouse button will bring up a context menu with various links to lichen images and websites providing further taxonomic information.
Images from selected reliable sources are available, if the respective link is highlighted in green.
(Images to be accessed via LIASlight context menu are copyrighted by the copyright holder(s) as indicated below the respective thumbnails.)
For offline usage of LIASlight data, download NaviKey and keep yourself updated with the most recent
LIASlight data
files. Unpack the data files and copy them into the local ../NaviKey_xxx/DeltaSampleData/ directory.
If the LIASlight database has been of some use in your work, please consider to cite it as recommended here. We also would appreciate your feedback.
LIAS light by BSM, München, Germany is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. The "No Derivative Works" restriction applies only to contents but not to technical format transformation for usage in various applications.