Psoromidium aleuroides
Synonyms
Coccocarpia fineranii, Lecidea aleuroides, Pannaria descendens, Phyllopsora aleuroides, Phyllopsora wellingtonii, Psoroma descendens, Psoromaria descendens, Psoromidium wellingtonii
Family
Pannariaceae
Flora category
Lichen – Native
Endemic taxon
No
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Lichens - Squamulose
Current conservation status
2018 | Not Threatened | Qualifiers: SO
Brief description
Characterised by the corticolous (rarely saxicolous) habit; a thallus that is often areolate-diffract centrally, the squamules convex-imbricate; a thick, byssoid prothallus; confluent-conglomerate apothecia with margins often excluded at maturity; hymenium I+ deep-blue; an apical ring structure present in the ascus apex; and ellipsoidal to broadly fusiform ascospores, with rounded or bluntly apiculate apices, 10–13.5(–15) × 4–6 μm.
Distribution
North Island: Northland (Little Barrier Island), Auckland (Waitakere Ranges, Rangitoto Island), South Auckland (Mt Moehau, Coromandel Peninsula, Tihoi near Lake Taupo, Takaanu), Wellington (Lake Rotoaira, Ruahine Ranges). South Island: Canterbury (Mt Peel), Otago (Boyds Bush near Dunedin), Southland (Lake Hankinson, Fiordland, Secretary Island Doubtful Sound). Stewart Island: (Glory Cove, Noble Island Port Pegasus). Auckland Islands: (Hanfield Inlet, Laurie Harbour). Campbell Island: (Moubray Hill, S slopes of Mt Honey).
Known also from Victoria and Tasmania
Habitat
On bark of trees and shrubs in forest, also on lignum and rarely on rocks in humid, forest habitats.
Detailed description
Thallus small-squamulose, to 10 cm diam. Squamules small, rounded, 0.5-2.0 mm diam., crowded, imbricate to ± suberect, margins shallowly to deeply crenate, bright lettuce-green to pale greenish-grey, turning brownish-buff on storage, matt, with paler margins, forming an areolate crust on a thick, black, byssoid prothallus, discrete and scattered near margins. Cephalodia rosette- shaped, placodioid, flattened, pale blue-grey, 1-3 mm diam., at margins of squamules or on prothallus. Apothecia numerous, sessile, often aggregated and ± confluent, 0.4-1.0 mm diam., dark red-brown, matt, with a thin, pale margin, at first, soon becoming convex and immarginate. Asci clavate to ellipsoid, 70-75 µm long. Paraphyses slender, apices not thickened, simple, sometimes dichotomously branching above asci. Ascospores ellipsoid or elongate-ellipsoid to broadly fusiform, rounded or bluntly apiculate at ends, 10-13.5(-15) × 4-6 µm, wall slightly scabrid, c. 1 µm thick.
Substrate
Corticolous, rarely saxicolous.
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Marley Ford (14 September 2021). Brief description, Distribution, Habitat, and Features 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.