Teloschistes flavicans
Family
Teloschistaceae
Flora category
Lichen – Native
Endemic taxon
No
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Lichens - Fruticose
Current conservation status
2018 | At Risk – Declining | Qualifiers: Sp, TO
Brief description
Characterised by the corticolous/saxicolous habit; its fruticose, richly branched, terete to somewhat angled, complanate, slender, entangled branches, with occasional, scattered sorediate patches, and with scattered, 1-mm-long, sometimes black-tipped marginal cilia. It is not known fertile in New Zealand. Pycnidia are small, immersed to slightly protruding, and conidia are bifusiform.
Distribution
North Island: Northland (Three Kings Is, Spirits Bay, Whangaroa, Bay of Islands, Tutamoe, Poor Knights Is, Hen I., Great Barrier I., Helena Bay, Cuvier I.), Wellington (Kapiti I., Colonial Knob Wellington, York Bay). South Island: Nelson (Nguroa Bay). It has a northerly, disjunct distribution in New Zealand, being most commonly collected in northern coastal forest north of Auckland (Lats 34º10’s to 36º26’s), but also growing on coastal cliffs around Cook Strait, reaching the northern part of the South Island in Nelson (Lats 40º52’s to 41º37’s).
Cosmopolitan. Widespread, and often abundant in tropical to subtropical regions (especially on islands) and also known from temperate regions of both hemispheres. It is an Atlantic-Mediterranean species in Europe, though in England, Wales, and Italy it is declining or endangered. It is recorded from Tibet, Thailand, Java, Papua New Guinea, Hawai’i, the United States, South America, Australia, East Africa, Zimbabwe, and South Africa.
Habitat
A visually conspicuous, high-light species most commonly found in coastal habitats in northern New Zealand.
It is often a visually striking canopy epiphyte of coastal Metrosideros excelsa but also grows on Agathis australis, Avicennia marina, Dacrycarpus dacrydioides, Knightia excelsa, Kunzea spp., Leptospermum scoparium, Melicytus crassifolius, Podocarpus laetus, Ulex europaeus*, as well as on exposed rock, turf or soil of coastal bluffs and ledges. It associates with the following lichens: Coccocarpia erythroxyli, C. palmicola, C. pellita, Crocodia aurata, C. poculifera, Flavoparmelia soredians, Heterodermia japonica, H. obscurata, H. speciosa, Hypotrachyna formosana, Parmotrema cristiferum, P. grayanum, P. mellissii, P. perlatum, P. tinctorum, P. carpoloma, Podostictina pickeringii, Psoroma araneosum, Ramalina celastri, R. pacifica, R. peruviana, Xanthoparmelia australasica and X. furcata.
Detailed description
Thallus fruticose, richly branched, forming loose, entangled clumps 4-10 cm diam., corticolous. Branches terete or slightly angled, matt or minutely tomentose, pale yellow to orange-red, ± dichotomously branching, nodes 1-5 mm apart, with scattered 1 mm long, black-tipped fibrils and a few pale sorediate patches. Apothecia not seen.
Substrate
Corticolous, saxicolous
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Melissa A.S. Hutchison (May 2021). Brief description, Distribution, Habitat, and Features sections sourced from Galloway (1985) and Galloway (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.