Pseudocyphellaria argyracea
Synonyms
Sticta argyracea
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: SO, Sp
Brief description
Characterised by the corticolous habit; a white medulla, a cyanobacterial photobiont; scattered, laminal, white pseudocyphellae; and clustered pseudoisidia developed at lobe apices and margins, and around margins of laminal pseudocyphellae.
Distribution
North Island: South Auckland (Pureora). South Island: Nelson (Lake Rotoiti to Lewis Pass), Westland (Grey River), Marlborough (Stephens Island, Kaikoura), Canterbury (Alford Forest, Mt Peel), Otago (Hampden, Flagstaff). Stewart Island.
Known also from East Africa, India, Thailand Japan, the palaeotropics, southern South America, East Australia and Tasmania.
Habitat
In medium- to low-light habitats, on rocks, among bryophytes and ferns, and on trunks of forest trees and shrubs, including Dracophyllum, Kunzea, Melicytus ramiflorus and Fuscospora cliffortioides.
Detailed description
Thallus ±rosette-forming, orbicular, 1–5(–10) cm diam., corticolous or saxicolous, closely attached to bark or rocks, loosely attached and ±free when on twigs or among mosses. Lobes irregularly laciniate to broadly rounded, 3–10(–20) mm diam., 1–3 cm long, ±discrete to imbricate. Margins sinuous, often slightly revolute and very slightly ridged below, entire or minutely crenate-incised, usually delicately isidiate. Upper surface livid grey-blue or grey-black, very minutely mottled (×10 lens) when moist, pale olivaceous-grey to red-brown when dry, plane, undulate or minutely and irregularly wrinkled, smooth or minutely roughened, fragile, sorediate and isidiate, without maculae or phyllidia. Pseudocyphellae laminal, scattered, punctiform, becoming sorediate, to 3 mm diam., ulcerose, round to irregular, flat to convex, soredia white, coarsely granular. Pseudoisidia minute, styliform, terete, simple to coralloid, at first clustered at margins of pseudocyphellae and at apices and margins of lobes, in some specimens spreading more widely to form a diffract-coralloid crust, dark brown, mainly corticate, rarely sorediate below or occasionally forming expanded and flattened regenerating lobules. Medulla white. Photobiont Nostoc. Lower surface pale fawnish or pinkish white, shallowly wrinkled or pitted, ±densely tomentose from centre to margins, tomentum whitish, silky, entangled, rather shaggy. Pseudocyphellae very rare or absent, minute, white, punctiform, best seen near margins. Apothecia not seen.
Chemistry: 7β-acetoxyhopane-22-ol, hopane-7β, 22-diol (tr.), hopane-15α,22-diol, methyl gyrophorate and gyrophoric acid (C+ pink, fleeting).
Similar taxa
Similar to other members of the genus but distinguished by the pseudocyphellae that develop isidia at the margins.
Substrate
Corticolous
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Marley Ford (27 February 2022). Brief description, Distribution, Habitat, Features, and Similar taxa sections copied from Galloway (2007).
References and further reading
Galloway D.J. 2007: Flora of New Zealand: Lichens, including lichen-forming and lichenicolous fungi. 2nd edition. Lincoln, Manaaki Whenua Press. 2261 pp.