Teloschistes flavicans
≡Lichen flavicans Sw., Nov. gen. sp. pl.: 147 (1788).
Description : Flora (1985: 567).
Chemistry : Fallacinol (Huneck & Yoshimura 1996). Søchting & Frödén (2002) record six different chemosyndromes in this species. In New Zealand collections two chemosyndromes are known: A+1 (the anthraquinones parietin, emodin, parietinic acid, fallacinal, teloschistin and erythroglaucin plus small amounts of the depsidones vicanicin and caloploicin and the unidentified Tel 50), and A+3 (as in A+1 but with higher concentrations of vicanicin).
N: 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). S: Nelson (Nguroa Bay). A visually conspicuous, high-light species most commonly found in coastal habitats in northern New Zealand (Hayward & Hayward 1978, 1980, 1982, 1986; Hayward et al. 1986; Galloway & Hayward 1987). 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 ericoides, Leptospermum scoparium, Melicytus crassifolius, Podocarpus hallii, 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, Flavoparmelia soredians, Heterodermia japonica, H. obscurata, H. speciosa, Hypotrachyna formosana, Parmotrema cristiferum, P. grayanum, P. mellissii, P. perlatum, P. tinctorum, Pseudocyphellaria aurata, P. carpoloma, P. pickeringii, P. poculifera Psoroma araneosum, Ramalina celastri, R. pacifica, R. peruviana, Xanthoparmelia australasica and X. furcata. 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). This regional disjunction was first noted by Hooker (1867: 572) based on material collected in the North Island by William Colenso (Babington 1855) and by Andrew Sinclair in Nelson (Hooker 1867). T. flavicans is 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 (see Degelius 1935; Jørgensen 1996a), though in England and Wales (Gilbert & Purvis 1996) and in Italy (Nimis 1993; Nimis & Martellos 2003) it is declining or endangered. It is recorded from: Tibet, Thailand, Java, Papua New Guinea, and Hawai'i (Zahlbruckner & Mattick 1956; Lambley 1991; Smith 1991; Wolseley et al. 2002; Obermayer 2004); the United States (Fink 1935, Hale & Cole 1988, Esslinger & Egan 1995; Geiser et al. 2004); South America (Malme 1926; Follmann 1968; Thomson & Iltis 1968; Follmann & Redon 1972; Osorio 1972; Ferraro 1978; Weber 1986; Arvidsson 1991; Marcelli 1991; Sipman 1991b; Marcano 1996; Aptroot 2002e); Australia (Filson 1996; McCarthy 2003c, 2006); and East Africa, Zimbabwe, and South Africa (Almborn 1963; Krog 1987; Swinscow & Krog 1988; Becker 2002).
Cosmopolitan
Illustrations : Filson (1969: 97, pl. 6); Swinscow & Krog (1988: pl. 15A); McCune & Geiser (1997: 282); Gilbert (2000: pl. 16C); Dobson (2000: 373; 2005: 422); Brodo et al. (2001: 676, pl. 828).
Exsiccati : Weber (1965: No. 108).
Teloschistes flavicans is 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.
