Porpidia macrocarpa
Synonyms
Glyphis neozelandica, Patellaria macrocarpa
Family
Lecideaceae
Flora category
Lichen – Native
Endemic taxon
No
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Lichens - Crustose
Current conservation status
2018 | Not Threatened | Qualifiers: SO
Brief description
Characterised by the saxicolous habit; the usually inconspicuous, whitish (often suffused rust-red) thallus; rather large apothecia (1–4 mm diam.) with a broad margin not darkly pigmented; a sometimes K+ reddish exciple with rather thick hyphae (4–9 μm diam., in inner parts of exciple); a relatively tall hymenium (75–100(–130) μm); large, halonate ascspores, 15–22(–33) × 7–10(–14) μm; and stictic acid as major secondary metabolite (Hertel 1985: 313).
Distribution
South Island: Nelson (Lake Rotoiti), Westland (Fox Glacier, Karangarua River, Paringa River, Haast), Canterbury (Arthur’s Pass), Otago (Teviot Valley, Maungatua), Southland (above Lake Chamberlain, Doubtful Sound, Tiwai Point).
Widely distributed in North America, Europe, Asia and South America, but still very poorly known in the Southern Hemisphere where it is presently recorded from alpine localities in both New Zealand (Hertel 1985: 314) and Australia.
Habitat
Often common on rocks and boulders along streams or in glacial environments, roadside cuttings and rock outcrops in grassland, and on quartz pebbles at coast (Tiwai Point).
Detailed description
Thallus variable, inconspicuous and ±obsolete to thick, tartareous, continuous, cracked to ±areolate, surface roughened–arachnoid to wrinkled or papillate; pale greyish fawn or whitish or cream, sometimes patchily oxidised rust-red. Medulla I−. Prothallus indistinct, delimiting thalline patches as a thin, wavy, black line. Apothecia rather large, 1.2–4 mm diam., sessile, abundant, scattered or crowded, level with thallus surface to slightly proud, often separated from thallus by a ±continuous gaping crack, persistent, black, shining, raised, thin to thick entire, flexuous or crenulate, in larger apothecia often ±gyrose or divided by formation of secondary margins within the disc, hyphae 4–9 μm thick in inner part of exciple and reacting K+ reddish; disc subconcave to plane or convex, black or brown-black, matt or shiny, occasionally to commonly grey-pruinose. Exciple 150–200 μm thick, ectal zone brown-black, pigmented part 10–15 μm thick; inner zone brown to dark-brown. Hypothecium brown to dark-brown to 300–350 μm thick. Hymenium 75–100(–130) μm tall, colourless, I+ blue; epithecium olivaceous 12–20 μm thick. Ascospores 15–22(–33) × 7–10(–14) μm.
Chemistry: cortex K−, C−, Pd−; medulla K± yellowish to orange-red, Pd± orange; containing stictic (±) and cryptostictic acids (±).
Substrate
Saxicolous
Etymology
macrocarpa: Large fruit
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Melissa Hutchison (27 March 2022). Brief description, Distribution, Habitat, 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.
Hertel H. 1985: New, or little-known New Zealand lecideoid lichens. Mitteilungen der Botanischen Staatssammlung München 21: 301-337.