Megalaria melanotropa
Synonyms
Biatorina caesiopallens, Biatorina caesiopallens var. amoenior, Biatorina hemitropa, Biatorina leucoplacoides, Biatorina melanotropa, Catillaria caesia, Catillaria caesiopallens, Catillaria caesiopallens var. amoenior, Catillaria caesiopallens var. tristior, Catillaria caesiopallens var. tristior f. nigrita, Catillaria hemitropa, Catillaria leucoplacoides, Catillaria melanotropa, Lecidea caesiopallens, Lecidea caesiopallens var. amoenior, Lecidea hemitropa, Lecidea leucoplacoides, Lecidea melanotropa, Patellaria caesiopallens, Patellaria caesiopallens f. amoenior, Patellaria hemitropa, Patellaria leucoplacoides, Patellaria melanotropa
Family
Ramalinaceae
Flora category
Lichen – Native
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Lichens - Crustose
Current conservation status
2018 | Not Threatened
Brief description
Characterised by the corticolous habit; the whitish or pale greenish, wrinkled–verrucose to areolate or furfuraceous thallus, with or without a delimiting, wavy, black, marginal prothallus; sessile apothecia, 0.1–1.0 mm diam., the disc brownish to red-brown and white-pruinose; and oval or broadly ellipsoidal ascospores, (13.5–)15–19(–22) × 6–7(–9) μm. It is a commonly collected, very variable species. Thallus colour varies from whitish cream to olive-greenish, often in the same specimen; some collections from exposed habitats are also ±blackened. The thallus can be moderately thick and well-developed to ±effuse and discontinuous. Apothecia vary considerably in the presence and quantity of pruina developed, densely pruinose and epruinose fruits often occurring on the same specimen; thallus margins also vary from black and matt to red-brown and translucent. The extensive synonymy stems mainly from formal recognition of these variations in colour and texture of apothecia.
Distribution
North Island: Northland to Wellington. South Island: Nelson to Southland. Stewart Island. Campbell Island.
Habitat
Widely distributed on bark of trees and shrubs in lowland forest.
Detailed description
Thallus creamy, whitish or pale greenish, thin or thick, scattered or ± continuous, verrucose-rimose to ± areolate to ± furfuraceous, uneven-verrucose, shining or matt, in irregular patches 1-3(-8) cm diam., with or without a thin, black, wavy prothallus at margins, corticolous. Apothecia sessile, constricted at base, solitary or 1-3-confluent, plane to convex, 0.1-1.0 mm diam., disc brownish-black to reddish-brown, with or without a distinct blue-white pruina, margins prominent, swollen, entire to subcrenulate, persistent, blackened concolorous with disc in exposed forms, or more often reddish-brown, translucent. Epithecium black or olive-brown, 10-13 µm thick. Hymenium colourless 60-75 µm tall. Hypothecium olive-greenish or brownish, 40-50 µm thick. Asci I+ blue. Ascospores biseriate oval or broadly ellipsoid with pointed or rounded ends (13.5-)15-19(-22) × 6-7(-9) µm, straight or slightly curved and ± fabiform.
Substrate
Corticolous
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Melissa Hutchison (14 June 2023). Brief description, Distribution, Habitat, and Features sections copied from Galloway (1985, 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.