Lepra truncata
Synonyms
Pertusaria ascripta Stirt., Pertusaria fumosa C.Knight, Pertusaria cupularis C.Knight, Pertusaria subglobulifera Nyl., Pertusaria nothofagi Zahlbr., Lecanidium nothofagi (Zahlbr.) C.W.Dodge.
Family
Pertusariaceae
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 corticolous habit; disc-like apothecia; (4–6–)8-spored asci; uniseriate, ellipsoidal, smooth ascospores, 19–27 × 12–15 μm; and the presence of picrolichenic acid (medulla KC+ pink-violet).
Distribution
North Island: Gisborne (Waikaremoana), South Auckland (Waiotapu Valley), Wellington (Tongariro National Park, Ruahine Range, Tararua Range). South Island: Nelson (Maruia Springs), Marlborough (Tophouse), Westland (Barrack Creek near Otira), Canterbury (Lewis Pass, Nina Valley, Arthur’s Pass, Rhodes’s Bush, Banks Peninsula, Governor’s Bush Mt Cook National Park), Otago (Canyon Creek, Ahuriri Valley, Haast Pass, Makarora, Young Valley, Forgotten River, Bride Burn, Theatre Flats Rockburn, Silver Peaks), Southland (Homer, Caswell Sound, Stuart Mountains). Stewart Island.
Also in Victoria and Tasmania in Australia.
Habitat
On bark of trees and shrubs in lowland to subalpine forest. Commonly on species of beech (Fuscospora, Lophozonia), but also on Dracophyllum, Leptospermum, Metrosideros, Prumnopitys taxifolia, Pterophylla racemosa.
Detailed description
Thallus in irregular, continuous patches 2-6(-10) cm diam., olive-green to pale grey-green or fawnish, wrinkled-verrucose or shallow papillate, areolate-cracked, shining or matt. Fertile verrucae 0.5-1.5 mm diam., to 1.2 mm tall, sessile, rounded, white-sorediate at first, margins concolorous with thallus, thick, wrinkled-striate or ± exfoliating, white-pulverulent. Apothecia 1 per verruca, disc pale to dark red-brown or greyish with a thick, whitish pruina. Asci 8-spored, clavate, occasionally 4-6-spored with small or aborted spores. Ascospores oval, uniseriate, (18.7-)23-36(-40) × 12-15.5(-20.3) µm, wall 1.5-3 µm thick.
Chemistry: Medulla and apices of verrucae K+ dull orange-yellow, C−, KC+ pink or violet, Pd−; containing picrolichenic acid (major), isohyperpicrolichenic acid (major), hyperpicrolichenic acid (minor) and subpicrolichenic acid (minor).
Similar taxa
Superficially similar to P. novaezelandiae, but is distinguished from that species by ascospore numbers and by chemistry; P. novaezelandiae has 1-spored asci and hypothamnolic acid (medulla and soredia K+ purple).
Substrate
Corticolous
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Marley Ford (13 October April 2021). Brief description, Distribution, Habitat, Features, and Similar taxa sections copied from Galloway (1985) and 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.