ssp. vermicularis
Description : Flora (1985: 569).
Chemistry : Two chemodemes present: (1) Medulla K+ yellow, C−, KC−, Pd+ orange, UV−; containing thamnolic acid. (2) Medulla K− or pale-yellowish, C−, KC−, Pd+ yellowish, cortex UV+ golden-yellow; medulla UV+ blue-white; containing baeomycesic and squamatic acids.
N: Gisborne (Raukumara Ra.), Wellington (Kaimanawa Mts, Ruahine Ra., Tararua Ra.). S: Nelson (Lake Cobb, Lookout Ra., Mt Arthur, St Arnaud Ra.), Marlborough (Mt Stokes, Rachel R., Island Saddle, Mt Fyffe), Canterbury (Temple Basin, Craigieburn Ra., Torlesse Ra., Sebastopol), Otago (Rock & Pillar Ra.), Southland (Fiordland). St: (Mt Anglem). On soil, among mosses, or grass in alpine or subalpine grassland, herbfield and fellfield, both east and west of the Main Divide. The UV− chemodeme is more common in the Southern Hemisphere than it is in the Northern Hemisphere (Satô 1965a: 324). In New Zealand it has an altitudinal range from 287 m (Conroy's Gully near Alexandra) to 3000 m (Mt Aspiring) and is most richly developed in the mountains of eastern South I., from the Torlesse Ra. to the Blue Mts. In this latter locality, exceptionally well-developed thalli occur reaching 12–15 cm in length. The UV+ chemodeme is much rarer in New Zealand (Satô 1965a: 324) ranging from the St Arnaud Ra. to Mt Anglem on Stewart I. This chemodeme is much more common in the Northern Hemisphere than it is in the Southern Hemisphere (Satô 1963, 1965a, 1965b, 1968b), though in arctic North America both chemodemes appear to be equally distributed (Thomson 1984; Brodo et al. 2001).
Cosmopolitan
Illustrations : Brightman & Nicholson (1966: 69, fig. 5); Martin & Child (1972: 173, pl. 51); Moore & Irwin (1978: 15, fig. 4); Wilson (1978: 276, pl. 532; 1996: 354, pl. 551); Jahns (1980: 253, fig. 653); Moberg & Holmåsen (1982: 221); Thomson (1984: 439); Phillips (1987: 184); Dobson (1992: 328; 2000: 375; 2005: 423); Kärnefelt & Thell (1995: 217, figs 2–7); Wirth (1995b: 13); Hansen (1995: 66); Malcolm & Galloway (1997: 142, 179); McCune & Geiser (1997: 283–284); Goward (1999: 244); St Clair (1999: 192); Malcolm & Malcolm (2000: 82); Purvis (2000: 69); Brodo et al. (2001: 678, pl. 831); McCarthy & Malcolm (2004: 59); Pope (2005: 12).
Thamnolia vermicularis is characterised by: the terricolous habit; the straggling, unattached, white, hollow, tapering thalli; and the medullary chemistry. Thamnolic acid (UV−) chemodemes have a tendency to turn pinkish on long storage in the herbarium, while the UV+ chemodeme does not.
