Peltigera membranacea
Synonyms
Peltidea canina, Peltidea canina γ membranacea
Family
Peltigeraceae
Flora category
Lichen – Native
Endemic taxon
No
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Lichens - Foliose
Current conservation status
2018 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: DP, SO
Brief description
Characterised by the terricolous/corticolous habit; broad lobes with tomentose, downrolled margins and scattered tomentum on the upper surface; raised, anastomosing veins that are covered with an erect tomentum (×10 lens), the inter-vein interstices broadly polygonal, and discrete, long, slender, simple rhizines covered with erect tomentum (bottle-brush-like).
Distribution
North Island: Wellington (Ruapehu, Tiritea). South Island: Nelson (Matakitaki Valley), Marlborough (Blue Duck Scientific Reserve), Canterbury (Arthur’s Pass, Banks Peninsula, Mt Cook), Otago (Deep Stream, Sandymount, Mt Cargill, Taieri Beach), Southland (Milford Sound, Argyle Burn, Invercargill). Stewart Island: (Ulva Island, Waituna Bay). It is still rather poorly collected and understood in New Zealand.
Cosmopolitan. Known also from North America, W Europe (including Macaronesia, Great Britain and Scandinavia), Asia, and Tasmania (Australia).
Habitat
On damp soil, on rotting wood, stumps, among grasses and on damp rocks in rather open situations rather than in closed forest sites.
Detailed description
Thallus spreading, large, to 20 cm diam. Lobes ± discrete to imbricate, 2-10 cm long and to 2 cm wide, margins entire, sinuous, often ascending. Upper surface greyish-yellow or yellowish or brownish-green, dull, thinly tomentose, especially at, or towards margins, wrinkled-plicate or uneven-corrugate, reflecting patterns of veining on lower surface. Lower surface whitish to brown, tomentose, with narrow, elevated veins. Rhizines simple, pale to black, rather sparse, to 10 mm long. Apothecia on extended, ascending lobules, 4-5 mm diam., rounded, often reflexed, disc reddish to brown-black, margins pale, crenulate, thin. Ascospores acicular, colourless or pale yellowish, 3-5-septate, 45-70 × 3-4 µm.
Chemistry: TLC−, all reactions negative.
Similar taxa
It has a thinner thallus than P. canina and is also separated from this species by the above characters and the slightly longer spores.
Substrate
Terricolous
Vitikainen (1994) opines that Southern Hemisphere collections named as P. membranacea “probably represent other species”; however, New Zealand collections agree well with material seen from Great Britain, Europe and Scandinavia. Colour morphs of P. malacea, P. membranacea and some other taxa are known (Holtan-Hartwig 1993; Goward et al. 1995). A recent study of British Columbia populations of P.membranacea investigates the relationship between thallus colour and genetic variability in the Nostoc photobionts (Miao et al. 1997).
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Marley Ford (3 September 2021). Brief description, Distribution, Habitat, Features and Extra information 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.
Goward T.; Goffinet B. & Vitikainen O. 1995: Synopsis of the genus Peltigera (lichenized Ascomycetes) in British Columbia, with a key to the North American species. Canadian Journal of Botany 73: 91–111.
Holtan-Hartwig J. 1993: The lichen genus Peltigera, exclusive of the P. canina group, in Norway. Sommerfeltia 15: 1–77
Miao V.P.W.; Rabenau A. & Lee A. 1997: Cultural and molecular characterization of photobionts of Peltigera membranacea. Lichenologist 29: 571–586.
Vitikainen O. 1994: Taxonomic revision of Peltigera (lichenized Ascomycotina) in Europe. Acta Botanica Fennica 152: 1–96.