Peltigera tartarea (Llano) Vitik. stat. et comb. nov. is reported from the arctic slope of Alaska and compared with allied species of the genus. Unlike many other species of the genus Peltigera, P venosa (L.) Baumg. has a narrow range of morphological variation and is mostly easy to identify. Therefore, the description of P venosa f. tartarea Llano, one of the few infraspecific taxa ever proposed in the species, arouses interest. According to Llano (1951), the form was fertile and its photo- biont was Nostoc; however, P. venosa is known to be a 3-membered lichen having a chloro- coccoid main photosymbiont and Nostoc in cephalodia under the lower surface. The cephalodia may develop free-living squamulose thalli (Tonsberg & Holtan-Hartwig 1983), but these are always sterile as is also the case with other known 3-membered thalli. Study of the holotype revealed a “good” new taxon, but its relation to P. venosa is quite remote. It is here recognized as a new species even if the specimen, the only known material of the taxon, is scanty and its variability and range cannot be evaluated; further more, some questions may be raised about its generic position.