Diploschistes scruposus
Common name
Crater lichen
Synonyms
Diploschistes cervinus, Leptotrema neozelandicum, Lichen scruposus
Family
Graphidaceae
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 saxicolous habit; the verrucose, pinkish brown to yellow-brown thallus; apothecioid ascomata, 4–8-spored asci; (21–)25–35(–45) × (9–)12–18(–21) μm ascospores; and lecanoric and diploschistesic acids in the medulla. The most common alpine species in New Zealand.
Distribution
North Island: Auckland (Cornwall Park), Gisborne (Mt Hikurangi), Hawke’s Bay (Mt Kaweka), Wellington (Mt Ruapehu). South Island: Canterbury (Craigieburn Ranges, Rocky Peak Banks Peninsula), Otago (Rees Valley, Old Man Range, Poolburn Reservoir, Lake Onslow, Rock & Pillar Range, Maungatua, Black Head, Blue Mountains).
A very widely distributed species known also from Great Britain, Europe, Scandinavia, Macaronesia, Cape Verde Island, Algeria, Turkey, India, Nepal, Japan, North America, Brazil and Australia.
Habitat
On coastal to subalpine and alpine rocks, often in dry underhangs.
Detailed description
Thallus pale to dark grey, sometimes with a yellowish tinge, roughened, warted-areolate, irregularly spreading or ± suborbicular 1-5 cm diam., saxicolous. Apothecia urceolate at first, emerging and opening out to reveal small, black, ± pruinose discs, proper margin visible within a thalline margin. Hypothecium black. Ascospores at first 5-septate becoming muriform, 22-40 × 10-18 µm.
Chemistry: Two chemodemes (I) K−, C+ red, Pd−, UV−; containing lecanoric acid; (ii) K+ yellow, C+ red, Pd−, UV−; containing lecanoric and diploschistesic acids.
Substrate
Saxicolous
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Marley Ford (14 December 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.