Description: Now believed extinct in Ireland this species was formerly known from Turk Cascade, Killarney, County Kerry where it was collected in 1832. It is know to encrust mosses, liverworts and other lichens. It is unusual in that the thallus is a basidio- or mushroom-lichen or, more specifically, a bracket-fungus-lichen. Gauzy-blue-green mats of cyanobacteria overgrowing tree mosses or liverworts should be examined closely and turned over to see if they reveal the giveaway clue, a chalky-white layer, which is masked, when viewed from above.

Key Identification Features:

• Thallus, a mat of fibrils encrusting epiphytic mosses, liverworts and lichens
• Stream gorges and moist relict woodland could be searched for the species.

Original text submitted by Vince J. Giavarini

Distribution Map from NBN: Dictyonema coppinsii at National Biodiversity Network mapping facility, data for UK.

iNaturalist: Dictyonema coppinsii at iNaturalist World Species Observations database.