Baeomyces heteromorphus
Synonyms
Baeomyces cinnabarinus, Baeomyces cupreus, Baeomyces granosus, Baeomyces haemotropus, Cladoniopsis caespitosa
Family
Baeomycetaceae
Flora category
Lichen – Native
Endemic taxon
No
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Lichens - Crustose
Current conservation status
2018 | Not Threatened | Qualifiers: SO
Brief description
Characterised by the terricolous habit; spreading, pale-green to mid-green crustose thallus, (greenish yellow to grey-green or dirty-white when dry) that is corticate, minutely squamulose, irregularly cracked and warted and without soredia; erect, simple or 1–4-branched podetia 10–15 mm tall, pale pinkish, yellowish white or suffused reddish, superficially invested with green algae at base, smooth, waxy, to corrugate or coarsely vertically grooved; terminal apothecia often clustered, pale-pink to dark reddish brown, plane or convex, with a distinct, concolorous, flexuous margin.
Distribution
North Island: Northland (Herekino, Kawerua, Ririwha Island, Puketi Forest, Bay of Islands, Little Barrier Island, Rakitu Island, Great Barrier Island), Auckland (Waitakere Ranges), South Auckland (Hunua Ranges, Great Mercury Island, Kauaeranga Gorge, Waikawau Bay Coromandel Peninsula, Te Aroha, Kaimai Ranges, Waiotapu Valley) to Wellington (Ruapehu, Erua, Eastbourne). South Island: Nelson (Cobb Valley, Lake Rotoiti, Aniseed Valley), Marlborough (Lookout Peak, Resolution Bay, d’Urville Island), Westland (Greymouth), Canterbury (Arthur’s Pass, Banks Peninsula), Otago (Red Hills, Highcliff, Dunedin, Maungatua, Tautuku Bay), Southland (Doubtful Sound, Dusky Sound, Lake Roe, Borland Saddle, Manapouri, Longwood Range). Stewart Island/Rakiura: (Oban). Campbell Island/Motu Ihupuku. Auckland Islands: (Mt Eden). Antarctica.
Australasian. Known also from SE Australia and Tasmania and from high altitudes in New Guinea.
Habitat
Widespread, s.l. to 1200 m, a common and active coloniser of exposed soil and gravels, clay banks (in these habitats it appears to have a major phase of active growth in the winter), occasionally also on old wood, peat and detritus.
Detailed description
Thallus greenish when wet, greenish-yellow to greyish-green or dirty white when dry, minutely squamulose, corticate, irregularly cracked and warted, not sorediate. Podetia 10-15 mm tall, simple to 1-4 branched near apices, stalks pale flesh-coloured, yellowish-white or suffused reddish, often superficially invested with green algae, surface smooth, often waxy, corrugate and coarsely vertically grooved. Apothecia terminal or subterminal, often clustered, disc pale pink to dark reddish-brown, plane or convex with a distinct, pale, flexuous margin, thalline exciple pale. Ascospores oblong, simple, colourless 7-10 × 3-5 µm.
Chemistry: Thallus and apothecia K+ yellow-red, C−, Pd+ orange; containing norstictic (major), connorstictic (minor), subnorstictic (tr.), gyrophoric minor or tr., in apothecia), crustinic (faint tr. in apothecia) and salazinic (tr.) acids.
Similar taxa
Baeomyces heteromorphus looks similar and often grows in the same habitats at Dibaeis arcuata. Baeomyces heteromorphus tends to have a greener thallus, paler pink/flesh-coloured apothecia with flatter tops, translucent podetia (stalks), and green algae covering at least the lower parts of that stalk. Dibaeis arcuata can have quite long, thin, chalky white, curved stalks, whereas B. heteromorphus tends to have shorter, thicker, straight stalks, and sometimes several apothecia per stalk.
Substrate
Terricolous (occasionally corticolous on old wood)
Baeomyces is a genus of c. 8 species included in the family Baeomycetaceae (Eriksson et al. 2004; Pennycook & Galloway 2004; Eriksson 2005). Taxa with pinkish apothecia, an amyloid reaction in the ascus, and containing baeomycesic and squamatic acids, and formerly included in Baeomyces, are now accommodated in the genus Dibaeis (q.v., Gierl & Kalb 1993) and placed in the family Icmadophilaceae (Eriksson 1999; Eriksson et al. 2004; Pennycook & Galloway 2004), a view that has received support from molecular studies (Platt & Spatafora 1999). One species is widespread in New Zealand (Galloway 1980), also occurring in Australia (McCarthy 2006).
The lichenicolous fungi *Arthrorhaphis grisea Th.Fr., and *Dactylospora athallina (Müll.Arg.) Hafellner that are widespread on Baomyces rufus in the Northern Hemisphere, occur on the thallus of B. heteromorphus in Tasmania (Kantvilas & Jarman 1999: 34) and should be looked for in New Zealand populations.
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Melissa Hutchison (13 September 2021). Brief description, Distribution, Habitat, Features, and Extra information sections copied from Galloway (1985, 2007).
References and further reading
Eriksson OE. (Ed.) 1999. Outline of the Ascomycota – 1999. Myconet 3: 1–88.
Eriksson OE. (Ed.) 2005. Outline of Ascomycota – 2005: Myconet 11: 1–113.
Eriksson OE, Baral H-O, Currah RS, Hansen K, Kurtzman CP, Rambold G, Laessøe T. 2004. Outline of Ascomycota – 2004. Myconet 10: 1–99.
Galloway DJ. 1980. Notes on the lichen genus Baeomyces in New Zealand. Botaniska Notiser 133: 77–83.
Galloway DJ. 1985. Flora of New Zealand Lichens. Government Printer, Wellington, NZ. 662 p.
Galloway DJ. 2007. Flora of New Zealand Lichens. Revised 2nd edition including lichen-forming and lichenicolous fungi. Manaaki Whenua Press, Lincoln, NZ. Two volumes: vol. 1 pp 1–1006; vol. 2 pp 1007–2261.
Gierl C, Kalb K. 1993. Die Flechtengattung Dibaeis. Eine Übersicht über die rosafrüchtigen Arten von Baeomyces sens lat. nebst Anmerkungen zu Phyllobaeis gen. nov. Herzogia 9: 593–645.
Kantvilas G, Jarman SJ. 1999. Lichens of rainforest in Tasmania and south-eastern Australia. Flora of Australia Supplementary Series 9: i–xi + 1–212.
McCarthy PM. 2006. Checklist of the lichens of Australia and its island territories. Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra. Version 29 March 2006. https://www.anbg.gov.au/abrs/lichenlist/introduction.html
Pennycook SR, Galloway DJ. 2004. Checklist of New Zealand “Fungi”. In: McKenzie, EHC. (Ed.) Introduction to fungi of New Zealand. Fungi of New Zealand/Ngā Harore o Aoteroa Volume 1. Fungal Diversity Research Series 14: 401–488.
Platt JL, Spatafora JW. 1999. A re-examination of generic concepts of baeomycetoid lichens based on phylogenetic analysis of nuclear SSU and LSU ribosomal DNA. Lichenologist 31: 409–418. https://doi.org/10.1006/lich.1999.0230.