Lecanora melacarpella
Synonyms
Lecanora haywardiorum
Family
Lecanoraceae
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 (coastal rocks); the dark-brown apothecial discs, the large and small crystals in the amphithecium, the L. glabrata-type epithecium.
Distribution
North Island: Northland (Bay of Islands, Ririwha Island, Poor Knights Islands, Hen & Chickens Islands, Great Barrier Island, Little Barrier Island), South Auckland (Coromandel Peninsula, Rabbit Island, Penguin Island).
Also known from New South Wales and Queensland.
Habitat
On coastal rocks.
Detailed description
Thallus crustose, uniform, whitish to yellowish white or greyish white, continuous or dispersed verrucose to verruculose, epruinose. Margins indefinite or definite, sometimes with a whitish prothallus. Apothecia sessile, constricted at base, 0.6–1.8 mm diam.; discs very dark brown to brown-black, epruinose; margins smooth to verruculose or verrucose, prominent. Amphithecium with large crystals, but also small K-soluble crystals abundant. Parathecium hyaline with small, K-soluble crystals, bright whitish in polarised light, to 10 μm thick. Epithecium glabrata-type, without crystals, with a 2-μm-high hyaline layer above; dark in polarised light, pigmented dark-brown to brown. Cortex 25 μm thick. Hymenium hyaline, 65–85 μm tall. Hypothecium hyaline. Paraphyses septate, c. 1.5–2 μm thick, only slightly swollen at apices. Asci clavate, 50–70 × 10–18 μm. Ascospores ellipsoidal, (9–)10.5–13.5(–15.5) × (5.5–)7.5–8.5(–9.5) μm.
Chemistry: Thallus and apothecial margins K+ yellow, C−, KC−, Pd+ yellow-orange; containing atranorin (major), zeorin (major), unidentified triterpenoid (minor) and chloroatranorin (minor).
Similar taxa
Superficially it resembles Tephromela atra but differs in having a hyaline hymenium, a different ascus type, and a different chemistry.
Substrate
Saxicolous
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Marley Ford (3 August 2022). Brief description, Distribution, Habitat, Features, Similar Taxa and Extra information sections copied from Galloway (2007).
References and further reading
Fact sheet prepared by Marley Ford (3 August 2022). Brief description, Distribution, Habitat, Features, and Similar Taxa sections copied from Galloway (2007