Pseudephebe minuscula
Common name
Coarse rockwool
Synonyms
Imbricaria lanata var. minuscula Nyl. ex Arnold
Family
Parmeliaceae
Flora category
Lichen – Native
Endemic taxon
No
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Lichens - Fruticose
Current conservation status
2018 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: SO, Sp
Brief description
Characterised by the saxicolous habit; the prostrate, felted, mat-like, spreading thallus (3–10(–12) cm diam.), of loosely entangled, black, or brown-black, dichotomously to complexly branching, terete branches that are rarely flattened.
Distribution
North Island: Gisborne (Mt Hikurangi), Hawke’s Bay (Mt Kaweka), Wellington (Mt Ruapehu). South Island: Nelson (upper Cobb Valley, St Arnaud Range), Marlborough (Gordon Stream, Waihopai Pass), Canterbury (Craigieburn Range), East of the Main Divide to Otago (The Remarkables and Central Otago mountains). Stewart Island: (Mt Anglem).
An arctic–alpine species known also from Europe, Scandinavia, the Artic and North America.
Habitat
On rock in fellfield debris and on rock outcrops, 900–2,200 m.
Detailed description
Thallus prostrate, straggling, forming matts, closely attached to substrate, often dying from centre and forming rosettes, to 12 cm broad, rarely exceeding 1 cm in height, branching frequent from base, isotomic-dichotomous, occasionally isotomic-trichotomous, branches often inter-woven, terete to slightly dorsiventrally compressed, to 0.2 mm diam., usually concolorous but sometimes paler at base, cervine brown, dark brown to black, shining or occasionally matt, the whole thallus with a very wiry texture. Apothecia occasional, lateral, thalline exciple concolorous with thallus, smooth, dentate to ciliate marginally, disc matt, greyish-black or brown, plane but becoming convex with age, to 5.5 mm diam. Ascospores 7-12 × 6-8 µm. Pycnidia occasional, on tubercules, particularly frequent near axils, black, to 0.4 mm diam. Conidia 5-7 × 1 µm.
Chemistry: TLC−, all reactions negative.
Similar taxa
Similar to Gowardia nigricans but darker black in colour and by the thallus not dying at the base.
Substrate
Saxicolous
Larger forms were previously referred to as Pseudephebe pubescens (L.) M.Choisy in New Zealand, but recent molecular study has shown P. pubescens is not present in New Zealand (Garrido-Benavent 2021).
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Marley Ford (16 June 2023). Information in the 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.
Garrido-Benavent, I., Pérez-Ortega, S., de Los Ríos, A., Mayrhofer, H., & Fernández-Mendoza, F. 2021: Neogene speciation and Pleistocene expansion of the genus Pseudephebe (Parmeliaceae, lichenized fungi) involving multiple colonizations of Antarctica. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 155: 107020.