Brigantiaea chrysosticta
Synonyms
Lecanora chrysosticta, Lecidea chrysosticta, Lopadium chrysostictum, Myxodictyon chrysostictum
Family
Brigantiaeaceae
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
Distribution
North Island: Northland (Te Paki, Kaitaia, Te Huka, Cavalli Islands, Waipoua Forest, Maunganui Bluff Onerahi, Hen Island, Little Barrier Island, Great Barrier Island, Mahurangi River, Orewa), Auckland (Waitakere Ranges), South Auckland (Mt Maungatawhiri, Taitua Reserve, Kopuku, Waihaha, Te Kauri Reserve Otorohanga), Taranaki (Maungatiti), Wellington (Kapiti Island). South Island: Nelson (Kaihoka Lakes), Marlborough (Chetwode Islands, Resolution Bay, Blue Duck Reserve Seaward Valley), Westland (Greymouth), Canterbury (Lewis Pass), Stewart Island: (Port Pegasus). Campbell Island: (Mt Lyall).
Widespread from the Bay of Islands (Northland) to Stewart Island and Campbell Island.
Also known from New Caledonia and the Juan Fernandez Archipelago.
Habitat
Coastal and lowland on a wide range of native trees and shrubs (Agathis australis, Arisotelia serrata, Avicennia marina subsp. australasica, Beilschmiedia tarairi, B. tawa, Carpodetus serratus, Coprosma spp., Cordyline australis, Dacrydium cupressinum, Dracophyllu uniflorum, Fuschsia excorticata, Griselinia littoralis, Halocarpus kirkii, Hoheria spp., Knightia exclsa, Laurelia novaezelandiae, Leptospermum scoparium agg., Melicytus ramflours, Metrosideros excelsa, Myrsine australis, Fuscospora solandri, Olearia sp., Phyllocladus toatoa, Pittosporum eugenioides, Plagianthus reguis, Podocarpus totara, Prumnopitys taxifolia, Pseudopanax ssp. Rhopalostylis sapida, Sophora microphylla and Pterophylla racemosa).
It also occurs on introduced species of Populus* and Salix*, and is sometimes found on decorticated wood [William Colenso (WELT L 1095) notes on his collection 3585 “Small lichens, on bark, from my garden fence”, i.e. Mission Station Hawke’s Bay], and occasionally on coastal rocks.
Specimens are sometimes parasitised by the lichenicolous fungus Roselliniella lopadii.
Detailed description
Thallus greyish-white to pale greenish-grey in shaded situations, matt or shining, smooth to ± granular or uneven, spreading, 5-8(-10) cm diam., ± orbicular, margins well-defined to ± indistinct, usually corticolous, rarely saxicolous. Apothecia sessile, frequent centrally, often crowded, lecanorine (algae in excipulum small and easily overlooked), margins thick, entire, inflexed when young, becoming crenulate with age, disc plane, to 2.5 mm diam., orange-yellow, granular-pruinose. Ascospores colourless 85-125 × 30-45(-50) µm.
Similar taxa
Brigantiaea chrysosticta is distinguished from the three other Brigantiaea species in New Zealand by the whitish thalline margin to the apothecia (which are concolorous with the thallus) (the other species have apothecial margins that are concolorous with the disc, not with the thallus).
Substrate
Corticolous (bark)
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Marley Ford (29 December 2021). Brief description, Distribution, Habitat, Features and Similar taxa sections copied from Galloway (1985) & Galloway (2007).
References and further reading
Galloway D.J. 1985: Flora of New Zealand: Lichens. Wellington: PD Hasselberg, Government Printer. 662 pp.
Galloway D.J. 2007: Flora of New Zealand: Lichens, including lichen-forming and lichenicolous fungi. 2nd edition. Lincoln, Manaaki Whenua Press. 2261 pp.