Teloschistes peruensis is a bright orange lichen with a narrow distribution in Peru and Chile. Its AOO is 8 km2 and it is extant at only two locations. Its population size, area of occupancy (AOO), extent ofoccurrence (EOO), habitat quality, and the number of locations where it occurs have declined substantially due to development, off-road recreational vehicles, air pollution, introduced domestic species, and overall habitat destruction (when comparing the current status to historic reports, it is likely that the species has declined by at least 80% over the past three generations). The threats it faces are ongoing and the species could quickly become extinct without substantial and rapid conservation actions. Therefore, it is listed as Critically Endangered, A2bce.
Assessor/s: Ramos, D., Vargas, R., Herrera-Campos, M.A., Moat, J., Whaley,O., Parrinello, C. & Bungartz, F.; Reviewer/s: Dal Forno, M.; Contributor(s): Stanton, D., Orellana Garcia, A., Lewis, G. & Wilkinson, T. Facilitator(s) and Compiler(s): Allen, J. & Yahr, R.
Partner(s) and Institution(s): Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew & Arizona State University
Bibliography:
Almborn, O. (1992) Some overlooked or misidentified species of Teloschistes from South America and akey to the South-American species. Nordic Journal of Botany12(3): 361-364.
Moat, J. & Wilkinson, T. (2018) Lichen Meadow, Lomas Amara, Peru. Unpublished report.
Rodríguez, E.F., Ramírez Ordaya, A.M., Alvítez Izquierdo, E., Pollack Velásquez, L., Leiva González, S. & Aguirre Tocas, R. (2017) Catálogo de la liquenobiota de la Región La Libertad, Perú. Arnaldoa24(2): 497-522.
Thomson, J.W. & Iltis, H.H. (1968) A fog-induced lichen community in the coastal desert of southern Peru. The Bryologist71(1): 31-34.
Trevisan, V. (1861) Synopsis generum Trypethelinarum. Flora (Regensburg) 44: 17-26.
Whaley, O.Q., Orellana-Garcia, A. & Pecho-Quispe, J.O. (2019) An annotated checklist to vascular flora of the Ica Region, Peru - with notes on endemic species, habitat, climate and agrobiodiversity. Phytotaxa389(1): 001–125.
Find out more about the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteriahere.
Description. Thallus forming large rounded colonies to 30-40 cm across and ca. 8 cm tall. Lobes deep orange, becoming brown in the herbarium, intricately entangled, dichotomous 0.2-0.5 mm wide, 2-4 cm tall, with long tapering cilia forming along the sides and at the tips, terete or partly compressed, partly canaliculate with fissures opening irregularly along the thallus. Surface smooth, dull with with sparse to dense, short, hyaline fibrils visible at 20x magnification, esorediate, lacking isidia. Apothecia and pycnidia unknown.
Chemistry. K+ violet, C+ red, P-. The pigment appears to be the anthraquinone parietin as determined by chromatographic analysis. Fragments of the lichen were extracted with benzene and the extract spotted on WhatmanNo. 2 paper and developed by ascending chromatography, using methyl alcohol-saturated benzene as the vehicle. A methyl-alcohol-magnesium acetate solution (20%)as used to develop the spots, which were examined by fluorescent light (3,600 A).Comparison was made with material of Xanthoria parietina, X. fallax, and Teloschistes flavicans as suggested by Shiabata et al. (1950) and Asahina and Shibata (1954)-X. parietina contains parietin, X. fallax parietin and fallacin, and T. flavicans parietin and teloschistin. The fallacin and parietin were reported to have higher Rf values than parietin (Rf .89 in metyl alcohol). A dull orange fluorescent spot appeared incomparable levels of each of the chromatograms, including that of T. peruensis. This was interpreted to be parietin, because it was present in all. It also gave a purple reaction with KOH. A yellow fluorescent spot higher up (Rf .96) appeared in the chromatograms of X. fallax and T. flavicans and was interpreted to be the other anthraquinones, fallacin and teloschistin, which did not appear in the chromatogram of T. peruensis. No other substance was noted in either the paper chromatographic or microchemicl tests of T. peruensis.
Ecology & Distribution. This species grows in large rounded colonies in the manner of some Cladinae. It was collected on soil in extremely arid desert, where it is dominant (Iltis & Ugent 1800, WIS).
Notes. Many specimens were taken and some 40 will be distributed by the herbarium of the University of Wisconsin.