Thysanothecium scutellatum
Synonyms
Baeomyces hyalinus, Cladonia ? scutellata, Thysanothecium hyalinum
Family
Cladoniaceae
Flora category
Lichen – Native
Endemic taxon
No
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Lichens - Fruticose
Current conservation status
2018 | Not Threatened | Qualifiers: RR, SO
Brief description
Characterised by the lignicolous (charred wood) habit; the fissured cortex with corticate granules protruding from the cartilaginous network of nerve-like strands; the marginate apothecia; the morphology of the primary thallus; chemistry; and by its distinctive habitat requirements of charred wood.
Distribution
North Island: Northland (Radar Bush near Pandora, Te Huka, Karikari Peninsula, Awanui Swamp, Puketi Forest, Okaihu Hill, Little Barrier Island, Great Barrier Island to Waiwera), Auckland (Anawhata, Waitakere Ranges), South Auckland (Waiomu, Mt Maungatawhiri, Hot Water Beach, Coromandel Ranges, Great Mercury Island, Waiomu, Kaingaroa, Waituhi). South Island: Nelson (Crusader Bluff, Lake Rotoroa), Marlborough (Ship Cove) to Southland.
Known also from Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia and Australia.
Habitat
Both East and West of the Main Divide, on charred wood, rarely on decorticated wood (e.g. dead stumps of Cupressus macrocarpa*), coastal and inland, s.l. to 300 m – an easily overlooked species.
Detailed description
Primary thallus squamulose, or ± nodular-papiliate, squamules ± dorsiventral, scattered to ± densely packed, imbricate, forming a spreading, diffract- areolate crust, minute, 0.05-0.5(-1.0) mm diam., margins crenate, becoming lobulate, convex and ± closely attached to substrate, to ascending, ± imbricate, whitish or pale greenish to greenish-yellow above, tinged brownish at apices, white below, often clothing base of pseudopodetia to 5 mm, on charred or decorticated wood. Pseudopodetia arising from margins or apices of primary squamules, at first simple, terete and uniformly corticate, at maturity fissured, grooved, ± canaliculate or partly hollow, formed of horny, cartilaginous nerve- like strands between which corticate granules and medullary hyphae are exposed, 1-2 mm wide at base, flaring to 2-6 mm wide at apices, 0.1-10(-15) mm tall. Cortex yellowish-green to brownish, distinctly grooved-striate, discontinuous, cartilaginous strands corticate, glossy, spaces between filled with corticate granules and medullary hyphae. Apothecia terminal often also subterminal on secondary branches, disc ± plane, rotund at first, becoming irregular- undulate, fan-shaped or deeply crenulate-lacerate, margins entire at first, becoming sinuous, crenate, persistent, distinctly raised, concolorous with thallus or paler, surface of disc smooth or very minutely scabrid, pale yellowish- green to pinkish-brown, not or rarely minutely white-pruinose. Ascospores ellipsoid, straight or slightly curved, 5-8 × 3 µm. Pycnidia marginal on primary thallus, black, cylindrical to bottle-shaped, with an apical gaping ostiole 0.05-0.08 mm wide. Conidia not seen.
Chemistry: Cortex and medulla K−, C−, KC−, Pd−; containing divaricatic, nordivaricatic (tr.), stenosporic (tr.) and usnic acids.
Substrate
Lignicolous (charred wood)
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Marley Ford (26 January 2022). Brief description, Distribution, Habitat, and Features sections copied from Galloway (1985) & Galloway (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.