Diploschistes muscorum subsp. bartlettii
Family
Graphidaceae
Flora category
Lichen – Native
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Lichens - Crustose
Current conservation status
2018 | Not Threatened | Qualifiers: SO
Brief description
White crust with urceolate apothecia; on soil or lichenicolous on Cladonia squamules in dry habitats.
Distribution
North Island: Auckland (Whatipu), South Auckland (20 km SW of Te Awamutu), Wellington (Ruapehu, Kaimanawa Ranges, Ruahine Ranges, Rimutaka Ranges), Hawke’s Bay (Kaweka Ranges). South Island: Nelson (Kakapo Peak, Mt Cobb, Cobb Valley), Canterbury (Mackenzie Country), Otago (Dredgeburn, Central Otago mountains, Cromwell, Alexandra, Teviot Valley), Southland (Homer Cirque, Fiordland, Waituna Lagoon). Mainly E of the Main Divide.
Also known from Australia, Tasmania, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Easter Island, India, Nepal, Indonesia, Madagascar, East Africa and South Africa.
Habitat
On soil, mosses, plant debris and occasionally Cladonia squamules, in rather dry habitats (often in dryish underhangs in alpine areas). Common on dry, denuded grasslands of the inland lake basins where it forms characteristic “cow pats” on exposed, sandy soil, together with Siphula coriacea and terricolous species of Xanthoparmelia (X. molliuscula, X. reptans, X. semiviridis).
Detailed description
Thallus creamish fawn, grey-brown or greyish, continuous to areolate, uneven, warted or hummocky, 1–4 cm diam., on soil, mosses or plant debris (occasionally on Cladonia squamules). Apothecia urceolate, common, crowded, disc 0.2–0.8(–1) mm diam., black, ±pruinose. Proper exciple swollen, inflexed, concolorous with thallus, often puckered, or plicate. Hymenium 120–150(–175) μm tall, hyaline. Hypothecium 10 μm thick, colourless, Paraphyses 1–1.5 μm thick, simple, unbranched. Asci cylindrical to clavate, unitunicate, 90–140 × 15–35 μm, without an apical tholus, 8-spored. Ascospores uniseriate in ascus, brown, muriform, ellipsoidal to broadly ellipsoidal, 19.5–30 × 5–14 μm.
Chemistry: Cortex K+ yellow to red, C+ red, Pd−; containing lecanoric (major), diploschistesic acid (tr.) and orsellinic acid (tr.).
Similar taxa
Diploschistes muscorum ssp. bartlettii is distinguished from the Northern Hemisphere taxon D. muscorum ssp. muscorum, by its higher hymenium, the broader, consistently 8-spored asci, and a Southern Hemisphere distribution.
Substrate
Terricolous, lichenicolous (on Cladonia squamules)
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Melissa Hutchison (30 December 2021). Distribution, Habitat, Features, and Similar taxa sections copied from Galloway (2007).
References and further reading
Galloway D.J. 2007: Flora of New Zealand: Lichens, including lichen-forming and lichenicolous fungi. 2nd edition. Lincoln, Manaaki Whenua Press. 2261 pp.