Pertusaria melaleucoides
Synonyms
Pertusaria galactina Zahlbr.
Family
Pertusariaceae
Flora category
Lichen – Native
Endemic taxon
No
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Lichens - Crustose
Current conservation status
2018 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: SO
Brief description
Characterised by the corticolous habit; asci with 2 ascospores; conspicuous black ostioles; and the absence of secondary compounds.
Distribution
North Island: Northland (Bay of Islands) to Wellington (Feilding, Wellington). South lsand: Otago (Matanaka).
Also in Australia where it it occurs on mangroves in New South Wales.
Habitat
On bark of lowland and often coastal shrubs, e.g. Avicennia marina subsp. australasica, Coprosma sp. and Melicytus ramiflorus.
Detailed description
Thallus chalky white or grey-white, thick, wrinkled to irregularly areolate-cracked, margins effuse, indeterminate, matt, minutely papillate. Fertile verrucae rounded to subirregular 0.6-1.4 mm diam., hemispherical to ± conical, apex often flattened, concolorous with thallus. Apothecia immersed, 1-2 per verruca, ostioles carbonaceous, black, shining, surrounded by a narrow zone of pellucid tissue, internal tissues black. Asci 2-spored, endoascus well-developed, with a prominent apical dimple. Ascospores uniseriate, broadly ellipsoid with rounded ends, contents granular at first then hyaline 120-165.3 × 39.15-60 µm, wall 8.7-17.4 µm thick.
Chemistry: TLC−, all reactions negative.
Similar taxa
Superficially it resembles some species of Lecidea, but the large, double-walled ascospores easily distinguish it.
Substrate
Corticolous
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Marley Ford (16 June 2023). Information in the Brief description, Distribution, Habitat, Features, and Similar taxa 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.