Heteroscyphus argutus
Common name
Liverwort
Family
Lophocoleaceae
Flora category
Non-vascular – Exotic
Structural class
Liverworts
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
HETARG
Conservation status
Not applicable
Distribution
Indigenous. Kermadec Islands (Raoul Island): New Zealand: North Island (North Cape, Whiriwhiri Stream); Chatham Islands (Rekohu (Chatham) Island). Widespread through the high islands of the tropical Pacific and extending into Malesia.
Habitat
Terricolous, saxicolous and lignicolous in dense coastal forest.
Threats
Abundant on Raoul Island where it is the most common Heteroscyphus species present. Otherwise scarce in New Zealand proper where it is known from a small area on the banks of the Whiriwhiri Stream, North Cape, from Tuhua (Mayor Island) and from Rekohu (Chatham Island). The North Cape population is in a secure reserve, Tuhua (Mayor Island) is privately owned reserve, while the Chatham Island population is found within a protected covenant. The current distribution suggests that this species should be found elsewhere in northern New Zealand. Because Heteroscyphus argutus is so common on Raoul Island it has been listed as “At Risk/Naturally Uncommon” by the Threatened Bryophyte Panel (see Glenny et al. 2011).
Etymology
argutus: Sharp, sharp-toothed
References and further reading
Glenny, D.; Fife, A.J.; Brownsey, P.J.; Renner, M.A.M.; Braggins, J.E.; Beever, J.E.; Hitchmough, R. 2011: Threatened and uncommon bryophytes of New Zealand (2010 Revision). New Zealand Journal of Botany 49: 305-327.Glenny, D.S.;