Tuckermannopsis chlorophylla
Synonyms
Cetraria chlorophylla, Lichen chlorophyllus, Nephromopsis chlorophylla, Tuckermanopsis chlorophylla
Family
Parmeliaceae
Flora category
Lichen – Native
Endemic taxon
No
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Lichens - Foliose
Current conservation status
2018 | Data Deficient | Qualifiers: SO
Brief description
Thallus foliose, lobes narrow, with a pale-brown to greenish, weakly wrinkled or smooth upper surface, and a pale, brownish or blackish lower surface, with sparse rhizhines.
Distribution
North Island: Northland (Hihitahi State Forest). South Island: recently discovered in Canterbury (Banks Peninsula). Apparently rare but very little is known about this species in New Zealand.
Habitat
Found on Dacrydium cupressinum in Hihitahi State Forest. Recently found in red beech (Fuscospora fusca) forest on Banks Peninsula (Hutchison 2019).
Detailed description
Thallus foliose to subfoliose, loosely adnate on bark. Lobes moderately broad, c.1–4 mm wide, slightly canaliculate, with scattered marginal cilia. Upper surface pale-brown to greenish, weakly wrinkled or ±smooth, with scattered pseudocyphellae, upper cortex of paraplectenchymatous hyphae. Lower surface pale-tan, brownish or blackish, with sparse rhizines. Ascomata apothecia, developed at margins. Asci small, uniseriate, cylindrical, c. 30 × 8 μm; tholus small, ocular chamber cylindrical and broad, axial body rather distinctive and broad. Ascospores globose to subglobose, c.4–8 × 4–8 μm. Conidiomata pycnidia, marginal, raised, wall one-layered, pigmented, no cortical tissue beneath, conidia bifusiform, rarely filiform, c. 5–6 × 1–2 μm.
Chemistry: Atranorin in the cortex and alectoronic, α-collatolic, microphyllic, physodic and protolichesterinic acids in the medulla (Kärnefelt & Thell 2001).
Tuckermanopsis is a genus of small-lobed foliose taxa in the family Parmeliaceae, often classified with Cetraria. The genus is best developed in the Northern Hemisphere (North America, Japan, E Asia), where it has a boreal-montane distribution, and comprises c.10 taxa worldwide, being known from North America; eastern Asia, Japan, Southern South America and Tasmania. The systematic position of the genus is disussed by Kärnefelt et al. (1992, 1993), Thell (1998) and Kärnefelt & Thell (2001). On the basis of ITS sequence data, Tuckermanopsis is regarded as polyphyletic, composed of three or more groups of different origins (Thell et al. 2004). It was recently monographed (Kärnefelt & Thell 2001).
Similar taxa
Cetraria
Substrate
Corticolous
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Melissa Hutchison (25 June 2021). Information in the Brief description, Distribution, Habitat, and Features 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.
Hutchison M. 2019: iNaturalist observation of Tuckermanopsis chlorophylla. https://inaturalist.nz/observations/35845996
Kärnefelt I., Mattsson J.-E. and Thell A. 1992: Evolution and phylogeny of cetrarioid lichens. Plant Systematics and Evolution 183: 113–160.
Kärnefelt I., Mattsson J.-E. and Thell A. 1993: The lichen genera Arctocetraria, Cetraria, and Cetrariella (Parmeliaceae) and their presumed evolutionary affinities. Bryologist 96: 394–404.
Kärnefelt E.I. and Thell A. 2001: Delimitation of the lichen genus Tuckermannopsis Gyeln. (Ascomycotina, Parmeliaceae) based on morphology and DNA sequences. Bibliotheca Lichenologica 78: 193–209.
Thell A. 1998: Phylogenetic relationships of some cetrarioid species in British Columbia with notes on Tuckermannopsis. Folia Cryptogamica Estonia 32: 113–122.