Peltigera dilacerata
Synonyms
Peltigera degenii, Peltigera pellucida f. dilacerata
Family
Peltigeraceae
Flora category
Lichen – Native
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Lichens - Foliose
Current conservation status
2018 | Not Threatened
Brief description
Characterised by the terricolous/saxicolous habit; its narrow, whitish or buff veins, and long, simple, slender, smooth-surfaced, pale rhizines, no secondary metabolites, and thin, scattered, patches of tomentum at the apices of lobes and sometimes near young apothecia.
Distribution
North Island: Northland (Panguru), Auckland (Waitakere Ranges), South Auckland (Hunua Ranges, Te Aroha, Pirongia), Taranaki (New Plymouth), Wellington (Erua, Akitio, Tararua Ranges, Orongorongo Ranges). South Island: Nelson (Lake Rotoroa, Matakitaki Valley), Marlborough (Mt Stokes, Wairau Valley, Waihopai Valley, Hundalee), Westland (Alec’s Knob, Haast Pass, Ngatau Valley), Canterbury (Hinewai Reserve Banks Peninsula, Craigieburn Range, Godley Valley, Governor’s Bush, Waihi Gorge, Mt Nessing Hunters Hills), Otago (Glendhu Bluff, Manuka Gorge, Waipori Gorge, Maungatua, Dunedin, Taieri Mouth), Southland (McKinnon Pass, Eglinton Valley, Waihopai Reserve Invercargill, Te Wae Wae Bay). Stewart Island: (Glory Cove).
Habitat
On damp soil and litter and among mosses, on rotting logs and rocks in shaded habitats, in scrub, open forest, and on roadside banks, s.l. to 1000 m.
Detailed description
Thallus orbicular to broadly spreading, 2–10(–15) cm diam. Lobes linear–elongate to subirregular, 1–3(–5) cm long, 4–10(–12) mm wide. Margins entire to occasionally shallowly notched or crenulate, sometimes phyllidiate, apices sometimes ±downturned, not noticeably thickened below, sometimes suffused red-brown, here and there thinly tomentose. Upper surface dark slatey blue-black when wet, pale bluish grey when dry, smooth to shallowly wrinkled, dimpled or undulate, matt or glossy, thinly tomentose at or near margins and apices and close to apothecial discs; tomentum, ragged, whitish or pale-buff, not thickly developed as in P. canica. Lower surface white in a broad marginal zone, darkening slightly to pale-buff towards centre, or white from margins to centre. Veins narrow, 0.2–0.5 mm diam., pale-buff or yellowish, to brown-black or black centrally, raised, anastomosing, surface smooth; interstices broadly polygonal or lenticular, white, fibrous or roughened, often rather thin and appearing somewhat greyish through exposure of cyanobacterial layer. Rhizines discrete, pale, concolorous with veins, darkening to brownish or brown-black at centre, slender, simple, smooth-surfaced, 3–8(–10) mm long. Apothecia erect, on short to elongated marginal stalks; discs flat to ±inrolled and saddle-shaped, 3–6 mm diam., matt, epruinose, pale to dark red-brown; margins pale-buff, corrugate–scabrid, soon excluded by disc, buff-tomentose and ±ridged below. Ascospores colourless, acicular, 3–7-septate, (38–)45–60(–70) × 2–3.5 μm.
Chemistry: TLC−, all reactions negative.
Similar taxa
Distinguished from P. nana by the colour and morphology of the veins and rhizines, and the presence of scattered tomentum on lobe margins.
Substrate
Terricolous
Previously recorded from New Zealand as P. virescens, P. virsecens var. tasmaniae and as P. canina var. leucorhiza and as P. degenii.
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Marley Ford (3 September 2021). Brief description, Distribution, Habitat, and Features 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.