Diploicia canescens subsp. australasica
Synonyms
Diplotomma canescens
Family
Caliciaceae
Flora category
Lichen – Native
Endemic taxon
No
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Lichens - Squamulose
Current conservation status
2018 | Data Deficient | Qualifiers: SO
Brief description
Characterised by the saxicolous habit; the squamulose, subcrustose, placodioid, white or grey-white thallus with distinctively plicate, thickened margins; convex lobes that are distinctly pruinose and sorediate; soredia in laminal soralia, white, coarsely granular to farinose.
Distribution
Three King Islands: Raoul Island. North Island: Northland (Tokerau Beach Karikari Peninsula, Puheke, Poor Knights Island, Lady Alice Island, Little Barrier Island), South Auckland (Onemana Beach). South Island: Marlborough (Chetwode Islands, Goose Bay), Otago (Black Head). On coastal rocks. Chatham Islands: On loose bryozoan limestone outcrops near quarry “Big Bush” 40 m a.s.l.
Known also from Great Britain, Europe, North and South America and Australia.
Detailed description
Thallus squamulose-subcrustose, rosette-forming to spreading 1-3(-5) cm diam., margins distinctly radiate-plicate, entire, ± thickened, convex, grey-white or white, darker centrally. Lobes convex 1-4 mm wide, wider at margins, distinctly pruinose and sorediate. Soralia in scattered, erose patches, mainly laminal, soredia white, coarsely granular to farinose. Apothecia not seen in New Zealand material.
Chemistry: Cortex K+ yellow. Diploicin (major), dechlorodiploicidin, 3-dechlorodiploicin, atranorin and chloratranorin, secalonic acid A, B, C.
Substrate
Saxicolous
Etymology
canescens: Grey hair, greyish
australasica: Of or from Australasia
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Marley Ford (6 September 2021). Brief description, Distribution, Habitat, and Features 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.