Leucodermia leucomelos
Common name
Elegant fringe lichen
Synonyms
Heterodermia leucomela, Heterodermia leucomelos, Lichen leucomelos
Family
Physciaceae
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; the entangled mass of elongate, linear lobes with long black marginal cilia; an ecorticate lower surface with thickened, corticate margins and subapical soralia.
Distribution
North Island: Three Kings Islands to Wellington. South Island: Nelson to Southland. Stewart Island.
Widespread in tropical, subtropical and temperate regions viz. Great Britain, Europe, Japan, East Africa, Réunion, North America, Mexico, South America, Hawai’i, Fiji, New Caledonia, and Australia.
Habitat
On twigs and bark of trees and shrubs.
Detailed description
Lobes disjunct, narrow 0.4-1.5 mm wide, ribbon-like, straggling, dichotomously branched. Upper surface uneven with fine, long, black marginal cilia. Lower surface ecorticate, ± canaliculate, arachnoid, with subapical soralia. Apothecia rare, laminal, subapical to apical, pedicellate, exciple crenulate to squamulose. Ascospores with sporoblastidia, 35-52 × 18-25 µm.
Chemistry: Atranorin, zeorin.
Substrate
Corticolous
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Marley Ford (15 February 2022). Brief description, Distribution, Habitat, Features, and Similar taxa 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.