Pertusaria subverrucosa
Synonyms
Pertusaria callispora Zahlbr.
Family
Pertusariaceae
Flora category
Lichen – Native
Endemic taxon
Yes
Structural class
Lichens - Crustose
Current conservation status
2018 | Not Threatened
Brief description
Characterised by the saxicolous habit; the yellowish-ochre to fawn or dingy-white, verrucose-areolate to wrinkled–plicate–areolate thallus; verruciform apothecia with punctiform-depressed black ostioles, 1–3 per verruca; 2-spored asci; ellipsoidal ascospores, 190–245(–280) × 45–85 μm; and norstictic acid (K+ yellow→red).
Distribution
North Island: Wellington. South Island: Canterbury (Banks Peninsula), Otago (Central Otago Mountains). Stewart Island.
Habitat
On rocks, both coastal and on schist in dry, ±subalpine habitats; probably more widespread than records show.
Detailed description
Thallus yellowish-ochre or fawnish or dingy-white, verrucose-areolate to wrinkled-plicate-areolate, areolae convex, separated by shallow to deep cracks, often confluent, in mosaics, 0.5-2.5 cm diam., margins plicateradiating or delimited by a thin, black, wavy line, surface matt to minutely roughened or granular-scabrid to ± wrinkled-puckered, often minutely white-maculate, saxicolous. Fertile verrucae with 1-3 apothecia. Apothecia immersed, ostiole black, punctiform-depressed, minute, surrounded by a zone of pellucid tissue, often ± papillate. Asci 2-spored. Ascospores ellipsoid, contents granular to hyaline, 192-247(-280) × 47-87 µm, wall 8.7-17(-22) µm thick, thickest at apices.
Chemistry: K+ yellow→red, C−, KC+ red, Pd+ orange; containing norstictic and ±connorstictic acids.
Substrate
Saxicolous
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.