Bacidia wellingtonii
Synonyms
Lecidea wellingtonii Stirt., Bacidia spirospora C.Knight, Patellaria spirospora (C.Knight) Müll.Arg., Bacidia melastegia C.Knight, Patellaria melastegia (C.Knight) Müll.Arg., Bacidia spodoelaeina C.Knight, Bacidia pannaroidea C.Knight, Psorella pannaroidea (C.Knight) Müll.Arg., Lecidea delusa Nyl., Psorella delusa (Nyl.) Müll.Arg., Bacidia delusa (Nyl.) Hellb., Lecidea deflexa Nyl.
Family
Ramalinaceae
Flora category
Lichen – Native
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Lichens - Crustose
Current conservation status
2018 | Not Threatened
Brief description
Characterised by the corticolous habit; the pale olivaceous to fawnish yellow, areolate, minutely plicate, varnish-like to minutely roughened or papillate thallus, delimited by a narrow, black prothallus; sessile (occasionally subimmersed) to subpedicellate red-brown to brown-black apothecia; a granular blue-black epithecium; a massive yellow-brown hypothecium; and spirally curved, 10–18-septate ascospores, (50–)60–90 × (2–)3–4 μm.
Distribution
North Island: South Auckland (Bombay Hills, Rurima Island), Wellington. South Island: Canterbury.
Habitat
Widely distributed on bark of trees and shrubs in shaded, undisturbed, lowland habitats.
Detailed description
Thallus pale olive-greenish or yellowish to ± fawnish-yellowish, areolate-cracked, minutely wrinkled-plicate, uneven or in parts shallowly papillate, smooth, varnish-like in parts to minutely roughened, delimited by a faint black prothallus, in round to irregular patches, 1-3 cm diam. Apothecia conspicuous, scattered or 1-3-confluent, round to irregularly deformed through mutual pressure, 0.5-2.2 mm diam., sessile to subpedicellate, black, matt, smooth or minutely roughened, plane to convex, margins entire, thin, concolorous with disc or occasionally red-brown, slightly raised in young fruits, excluded at maturity. Epithecium granular, blue-black, 4-13 µm thick. Hymenium colourless, 80-120 µm tall. Hypothecium massive, yellow-brown. Ascospores 10-15(-18)-septate, (50-)60-90 × (2-)3-4 µm, spirally curved.
Similar taxa
Similar to other small crustose lichens but separated by spores, thallus and apothecia colour.
Substrate
Corticolous
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Marley Ford (3 August 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.