Rinodina thiomela
Synonyms
Lecanora thiomela
Family
Physciaceae
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 prominent sulphur-yellow thallus; cryptolecanorine to lecanorine apothecia with a brown-black to black disc; Pachysporaria-type ascospores with a thinly developed torus, 20–34 × 11–17 μm.; and a chemistry dominated by xanthones (see above). It is possible that more than one species is involved in this circumscription.
Distribution
North Island: Northland (Great Barrier Island), Auckland, Gisborne (Mt Hikurangi), to Wellington (Kapiti Island, Titahi Bay, Hongoeka Bay, Mirimar Peninsula, Scorching Bay). South Island: Nelson (Kaihoka Lakes, Mt Benson, Cobb Valley, Mt Arthur, Cable Bay), Marlborough (Goose Bay, Whites Bay, Halfmoon Bay, Kaikoura), Canterbury (Sugarloaf, Cass, Cave Stream, Hanmer Springs, Devil’s Gap, Monument Banks Peninsula, Port Hills Christchurch, Kaitorete Spit, Rangitata Valley, Mt Peel), Otago (Matukituki Valley, Harris Saddle, Routeburn Valley, The Remarkables, Old Man Range, Poolburn, Stoneburn, Alexandra, Cromwell Gorge, Silver Peaks, Mt Charles, Otago Peninsula, Otago Heads, Maungatua, Akatore, Catlins), Southland (Howell’s Point, Riverton). Stewart Island: (Easy Harbour, Christmas Village, Maori Beach, Halfmoon Bay, Port Pegasus). Chatham Islands: (Owenga, Hokopai Hill). Auckland Islands: (Port Ross). Campbell Island. Antarctica: (“Tilted Crag”).
Also common on siliceous rocks in SE Australia and Tasmania.
Habitat
On coastal and upland to high-alpine rocks, s.l. to 1600 m.
Detailed description
Thallus sulphur-yellow to green-yellow, granular, continuous, rimose-areolate, prothallus blackish, saxicolous. Apothecia cryptolecanorine to lecanorine, innate to adnate or sessile, scattered or frequent and contiguous, to 0.5 mm diam., disc brown-black or black, concave to plane, margins entire, concolorous with thallus. Hymenium 120-150 µm tall, upper parts inspersed. Epihymenium red-brown, with a fine, granular epipsamma. Hypothecium colourless. Ascospores of Pachysporaria-type, asci often only with with 4-6 spores, torus very thinly developed, 20-34 × 11-17 µm.
Chemistry: Zeorin and a series of xanthones including thiomelin, 8-O-methylthiomelin, 4-dechlorothiomelin, 2-dechloro-8-methylthiomelin, 4-dechloro-8-O-methylthiomelin, northiomelin, 2-dechlorothiomelin and 5,7-dichloro-2,8-dihydroxy-1,3-dimethyl-9H-xanthen-9-one.
Substrate
Saxicolous
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Melissa Hutchison (30 January 2022). 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.