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Niebla brachyura is
a rare lichen that is endemic to the Northern Vizcaíno Desert of Baja California.
It is distinguished by its hemispherical thallus intricately divided into narrow
to irregularly widened branches that are often shortly bifurcate near
apex, and by its lichen substance of hypoprotocetraric acid. It appears
intermediate between salazinic acid species,
Niebla flabellata—that differs by the more strongly flattened
branches arising from a central attachment point, and by the thinner
yellowish-green cortex—and N. arenaria
that is best distinguished by its chemistry. Niebla brachyura is one of two species
in the genus that has hypoprotocetraric acid. The
other, N. spatulata, which is also rare, is
much like N. flabellata; it is known sporadically from near El Tomatal,
on the Vizcaíno
Peninsula, and on Isla Cedros.
The type collection consisted of a single specimen (Spjut & Marin 9073K,
holotype) pulled out of a sample of ~ 200 g collected in May 1985 for the National Cancer Institute's anticancer/antiHIV
screening. The sample was later determined to include
N. caespitosa (divaricatic acid) with occasional
N. flabellata
(salazinic acid), N. eburnea (divaricatic acid) and
N. flagelliforma (divaricatic
acid). The type of N. flabellata was also selected from this sample
(Spjut & Marin 9073H5). It was not until five years later that Niebla
brachyura was found at other sites, one near Punta Canoas where six
specimens were collected in association with N. arenaria, and another at
Punta Cono where two specimens were collected in an enriched mixed Niebla-Vermilacinia community.
In 2016, it was independently collected from Morro Santo Domingo by two research groups.
Niebla brachyura is morphologically similar to
the salazinic-acid species, N. limicola and
N. effusa,
and they are best distinguished from N. brachyura by their lichen substances.
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