Fuscoderma amphibolum
Synonyms
Leioderma amphibolum, Pannaria amphibola, Pannaria amphibela, Pannularia amphibela, Parmeliella amphibola
Family
Pannariaceae
Flora category
Lichen – Native
Endemic taxon
No
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Lichens - Foliose
Current conservation status
2018 | Not Threatened | Qualifiers: SO
Brief description
Characterised by the corticolous habit; and the irregular, coarsely granular, bluish white soralia that contrast with the tawny, ochre-brown thallus. It is the most widespread and common species of Fuscoderma in Tasmania and New Zealand.
Distribution
North Island: South Auckland to Wellington. South Island: Nelson (Denniston Plateau), Marlborough (Ship Cove Queen Charlotte Sound) to Otago (Chinaman’s Flat, Dart Valley, Routeburn, Mt Maungatua). Stewart Island: (Port Pegasus).
Known also from Australia (New South Wales and Tasmania).
Habitat
Epiphytic on Griselinia, Lophomyrtus, Fuscospora, Podocarpus, Pseudowintera etc. in damp, humid habitats in moderate shade, associated with: Erioderma sorediatum, Physma chilense, Pseudocyphellaria hookeri, Pannaria euphylla and other oceanic species.
Detailed description
Thallus foliose-lobate, loosely attached, corticolous or muscicolous, 6-8(-10) cm diam., without a marginal prothallus. Lobes radiating, convex, sublinear, subimbricate, margins undulate, shallowly incised, sorediate. Upper surface dark bluish-green when wet, glaucous-green to brownish when dry, smooth, glabrous, ± coriaceous to minutely scabrid (×10 lens), margins often strongly white-tomentose, sorediate or not. Soredia marginal, granular to pulverulent or delicate-coralloid, bluish-white. Lower surface uniformly whitish-buff tomentose, margins of lobes often conspicuously thickened. Rhizines brownish or bluish-black in conspicuous, squarrose tufts. Apothecia frequent, prominent, ± central, sessile to subpedicellate, to 1 mm diam., disc orange to red-brown, with a thin, pale margin, plane or concave at first, becoming convex with age, smooth, waxy, epruinose not gyrose-etched. Ascospores fusiform, ellipsoid, ± apiculate at both ends, apiculae c. 5 µm long, 11-16 × 6-7 µm.
Soredia are not constant in the species throughout its known range and are possibly a shade or moisture modification.
Substrate
Corticolous
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Marley Ford (5 January 2022). Brief description, Distribution, Habitat, and Features sections copied from Galloway (1985, 2007).
References and further reading
Galloway D.J. 1985: Flora of New Zealand: Lichens. Wellington: PD Hasselberg, Government Printer. 662 pp.
Galloway D.J. 2007: Flora of New Zealand: Lichens, including lichen-forming and lichenicolous fungi. 2nd edition. Lincoln, Manaaki Whenua Press. 2261 pp.