Gyalolechia flavovirescens
Common name
Sulphur firedot
Synonyms
Caloplaca flavovirescens, Lichen flavovirescens
Family
Teloschistaceae
Flora category
Lichen – Native
Endemic taxon
No
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Lichens - Crustose
Current conservation status
2018 | Data Deficient | Qualifiers: RR, SO
Brief description
Characterised by the saxicolous habit (basicolous, coastal rocks); the pale, grey-white, scurfy-granular thallus; crowded to dispersed apothecia, to 1 mm diam., the discs orange-brown; and broadly ellipsoidal ascospores, (13–)15–16.5(–18.5) × 6.5–10 μm; septum 3–5 μm thick, ¼ to ⅓ length of spore.
Distribution
South Island: Otago (Matanaka).
Known also from Great Britain, Europe, Scandinavia, the Himalaya, North America, Australia.
Habitat
Basicolous coastal rocks (limestone)
Detailed description
Thallus crustose, granular-scurfy, yellow-green to greyish white, often indistinct. Apothecia common, conspicuous, scattered to crowded, 0.1–1.0 mm diam., the discs convex, dark orange-brown. Epithecium yellow, granular, 8–12 μm thick. Hymenium colourless, 55–70 μm tall, without oil droplets. Paraphyses simple, 2 μm thick, apices swollen to 4 μm diam., not moniliform or branched. Asci clavate or cylindrical-clavate, 50–60 × 16–20 μm, 8-spored. Ascospores biseriate in ascus, broadly ellipsoidal (13–)15–16.5(–18.5) × 6.5–10 μm; septum 3–5 μm thick, ¼ to ⅓ length of spore.
Chemistry: Thallus and apothecia K+ violet-red; containing parietin.
Apothecia and thalli may be parasitised by *Muellerella lichenicola (q.v.).
Substrate
Saxicolous (limestone rocks)
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Melissa Hutchison (22 August 2022). Brief description, Distribution, Habitat, and Features 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.