Leioderma erythrocarpum

Leioderma is a predominantly Southern Hemisphere genus in the Pannariaceae (Eriksson et al. 2004; Pennycook & Galloway 2004), most closely related to Erioderma, but distinguished from it by an absence of chemical characters and small, laminal apothecia (Jørgensen 2003). Seven species are currently known, with New Zealand (4 species), Australia and Ecuador (3 species) being the main present-day areas of speciation. It is absent from Africa, Europe and Asia (apart from the the Pacific seaboard), and from E of the Rockies and Andes in North and South America respectively, with the exception of L. glabrum in Brazil. It is thus a Gondwanaland genus with two major biogeographical elements: (1) a warm temperate–subtropical or Tethyan element comprising Leioderma erythrocarpum and its sorediate counterpart L. sorediatum, and also L. duplicatum and L. glabrum and (2) a cool temperate or austral element comprising L. pycnophorum, the generitype. Species of Leioderma are primarily corticolous, being epiphytes of forest trees and shrubs. The genus Fuscoderma (q.v.) was formerly included as a distinct subgenus of Leioderma.