Chaenothecopsis savonica
≡Mycocalicium savonicum Räsänen, Lichenotheca Fennica, Schedae ad fasc. VII–IX: 26 (1947).
Description : Parasitic or parasymbiontic on lichen thalli, or parasitic on colonies of free-living algae. Apothecia 0.5–1.3 mm tall, black or with a slightly greenish hue, with slender and often somewhat flexuous stalks. Capitulum spherical to lenticular, 0.12–0.26 mm diam. Stalk narrow, 0.03–0.07 mm diam., of periclinal hyphae, centrally pale, outer hyphae 3–5 μm diam., walls with aeruginose or brown pigments, yellowish brown in K. Epithecium thin, pale aeruginose to brownish. Hypothecium aeruginose to pale brownish. Exciple poorly developed, of a few layers of cells formed as a continuation of the outer part of stalk, at most 30 μm wide and supporting only the very base of capitulum. Asci small, 22–32 × 2.5–3.5 μm, apex distinct, often slightly attenuated and penetrated by a narrow canal. Ascospores pale aeruginose to pale-brown, ellipsoidal to broadly ellipsoidal with rounded apices, smooth, or minutely and irregularly ornamented, simple, 4.5–6.5 × 2–3 μm.
N: Northland (near Kaitaia) to Wellington (Maungaweka). S: Nelson (Tasman Mts) to Southland Pourakino Valley). Widely distributed on lignum or decaying bark of Agathis australis, Dacrycarpus dacrydioides, Libocedrus bidwillii, Nothofagus fusca, N. menziesii and N. solandri, in temperate forest, 130–1300 m. Known also from the Northern Hemisphere, South America and Australasia (Tibell 1987, 1996b, 1998a, 1999c; McCarthy 2003c, 2006; Hermansson & Pystina 2004).
Cosmopolitan
Illustrations : Tibell (1987: 156, fig. 115; 1991: 2429, figs 1–8; 2430, figs 9–18; 2431, fig. 19; 1996b: 42, fig. 27G; 1999c: 87).
Chaenothecopsis savonica is characterised by: its pale, non-septate spores with rounded ends; the frequently aeruginose tinge of the stalk and exciple; the poorly developed exciple and the small asci.
