Brigantiaea lobulata
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
Brief description
Characterised by the small, suberect lobules which cover the thallus.
Distribution
North Island: Northland (Bay of Islands, Ngaiotonga Saddle, Great Barrier Island), South Auckland (Kuratau, Moerangi, Mamaku, Whirinaki), Gisborne (Moanui Valley), Hawke’s Bay (Kaweka Range), Wellington (Kaimanawa Range, Ruahine Range, Lessong’s Monument). South Island: Nelson (Ruby Lake Cobb Valley), Flora Saddle, Matiri Buller Gorge), Westland (Lake Mahinapua), Canterbury and Otago (Makarora) to Fiordland, both East and West of the Main Divide.
Known also from New South Wales and Papua New Guinea.
Habitat
In cool temperate rainforest on bark and among bryophytes. Known from the following phorophytes: Agathis australis, Griselinia littoralis, Fuscospora fusca, Lophozonia menziesii, Phyllocladus sp., Podocarpus laetus, P. totara.
Detailed description
Thallus greenish-grey to grey-white, matt, thin, covered with small, suberect (ascending) somewhat flattened lobules, thallus spreading, to 10 cm diam., corticolous. Apothecia usually present, to 2 mm diam., sessile, constricted at base, plane to somewhat convex, distinctly marginate, disc and margins concolorous, rust-brown or blackish with rust-brown granular pruina. Excipulum biatorine. Hypothecium colourless to brownish. Hymenium colourless 150-200 µm tall, covered with brown anthraquinone crystals. Asci and paraphyses as in genus description. Ascospores 1 per ascus, colourless, muriform, ellipsoid, 80-120 × 25-45 µm.
Specimens are occasionally parasitised by the lichenicolous fungus Roselliniella lopadii.
Similar taxa
Brigantiaea lobulata is distinguished from B. phaeomma by the presence of small, suberect lobules which cover the thallus. Both taxa may constitute a species pair.
Substrate
Corticolous
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Marley Ford (30 January 2024). 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.