Podotara pilophoriformis
Family
Ramalinaceae
Flora category
Lichen – Native
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
Yes
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Lichens - Crustose
Current conservation status
2018 | Data Deficient
Brief description
Characterised by the foliicolous habit; the white, spreading areolate thallus; the distinctively stalked, globose, pinkish apothecia; 3-septate ascospores with characteristically thickened septa; and a distinctive chemistry.
Distribution
South Island: Nelson, Stewart Island. Probably more widely distributed.
Habitat
Foliicolous on leaves of Podocarpus totara and Podocarpus laetus.
Detailed description
Thallus epiphyllous, crustose, areolate, areolae dispersed, 0.3–0.5 mm diam., 0.1 mm thick, white, without a prothallus. Apothecia globose, sometimes of two or more fused tubercles, pink, 0.3–0.35(–0.5) mm diam., stipitate, stalk white, 0.2–0.4 mm tall, 0.1 mm diam. Epithecium with small, yellow-brown granules, dissolving in K. Hymenium to 70 μm tall, colourless. Hamathecium of paraphyses, straight, partly anastomosing, 1.5 μm thick. Hypothecium hyaline. Ascospores ellipsoidal, 3-septate, 12–15 × 2.5–3 μm, septa unevenly thickened.
Chemistry: Thallus K+ yellow→red; containing norstictic acid (major), connorstictic acid (minor or tr.), salazinic acid (minor or tr.) and galbinic acid (minor, trace or lacking).
Substrate
Foliicolous
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Marley Ford (5 August 2021). Brief description, Distribution, Habitat, Features and Similar taxa 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.