Phyllopsora malcolmii
Family
Ramalinaceae
Flora category
Lichen – Native
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Lichens - Crustose
Current conservation status
2018 | Data Deficient | Qualifiers: OL
Brief description
Characterised by the corticolous habit; the green thalline squamules, surrounded by a white, byssoid prothallus; pale-brown apothecia; hymenium 70–80 μm tall, colourless, hypothecium pale-brownish; ascospores bacillar, 13–18 × 2–2.2 μm, and a chemistry of argopsin.
Distribution
North Island: Recently identified on tree privet (*Ligustrum lucidum) in secondary growth native forest in the Waikatō (Hutchison 2022).
South Island: Known only from the type locality in Nelson (“Brook Stream track”) (Galloway 2007).
Habitat
The type specimen from “Brook Stream track” near Nelson was described as “ad corticem arborum” (on tree bark) (Galloway 2007).
Detailed description
Thallus squamulose, irregularly spreading, delimited by a white, byssoid prothallus, the hyphae arachnoid, to 3 μm thick. Squamules 0.7–1 mm diam. Apothecia pale-brown to brown, sessile, disc plane with a paler proper margin, at maturity convex, the margins excluded, 0.8–1.5 mm diam., 0.25 mm tall. Exciple colourless. Hypothecium pale-brownish. Hymenium colourless, 70–80 μm tall; the paraphyses tips forming a cloudy, brownish epithecium. Paraphyses 2 μm thick, the apices not thickened. Asci clavate. Ascospores simple, colourless, bacillar, 13–18 × 2–2.2 μm. Pycnidia rare, immersed in thalline verrucae. Conidia narrow, 12–25 × 0.25 μm.
Chemistry: Argopsin (minor).
Substrate
Corticolous
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Melissa Hutchison (14 June 2023). Brief description, Distribution, and Features sections copied from Galloway (2007).
References and further reading
Galloway D.J. 2007: Flora of New Zealand: Lichens, including lichen-forming and lichenicolous fungi. 2nd edition. Lincoln, Manaaki Whenua Press. 2261 pp.
Hutchison M. 2022: iNaturalist observation. https://inaturalist.nz/observations/109989580. Date accessed: 14 June 2023.