Menegazzia caliginosa | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Fungi |
Phylum: | Ascomycota |
Class: | Lecanoromycetes |
Order: | Lecanorales |
Family: | Parmeliaceae |
Genus: | Menegazzia |
Species: | M. caliginosa |
Binomial name | |
Menegazzia caliginosa P. James & D.J. Galloway (1983) |
Menegazzia caliginosa is a species of lichen from New Zealand, Australia and South America. It is known to cause permanent itching in cats when eaten, which in the early 1930s caused a pandemic in New Zealand which resulted in up to nine hundred cats having to be put down. The spread of Menegazzia caliginosa is now carefully controlled in New Zealand.