Niebla disrupta is a fruticosa lichen that grows on rocks along the foggy Pacific Coast of California, from Marin County to San Luis Obispo County, in the Channel Islands, and on Guadalupe Island in Baja California. The epithet, disrupta was given by William Nylander possibly in reference to the terminal vine-like branchlets exhibiting a disruption or slight change in the direction of growth where apothecia develop, or possibly to the branchlets that appear to break off.