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Lichens A-Pac (2007) - Flora of New Zealand Lichens - Revised Second Edition A-Pac
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Lithographa Nyl.,

LITHOGRAPHA Nyl., 1857

Type : Lithographa petraea (Ach.) Nyl. [=Lithographa tesserata (DC.) Nyl.]

Description : Thallus crustose, areolate or cracked–rimose, delimited by a black, marginal prothallus. Photobiont green, Chlorococcaceae. Ascomata apothecia, lirellate to round or somewhat angular, disc slit-like. Thalline exciple absent. Proper exciple of dark-brown, conglutinate, anastomosing and radiating hyphae, Hymenium, colourless I+ blue, 65–59 μm tall; with a diffuse, brownish epithecium. Hamathecium of paraphyses. Hypothecium pale- to dark-brown, 80–300 μm thick. Asci cylindrical, Rimularia-type. Ascospores colourless, ellipsoidal, halonate or not. Conidiomata pycnidia (often not seen), black, minute, immersed. Conidia colourless, bacillar.

Key

1
Apothecia (lirellae) mostly unbranched or once-branched, scattered or in small groups; ascospores simple; paraphyses not moniliform; thallus usually thin (<20 μm thick) with cortex <20 μm thick, or absent
2
Apothecia in large serpentine clusters, much branched; ascospores submuriform; paraphyses moniliform; thallus mostly thick (>200 μm thick), with well-developed cortex, 35-37 μm thick
serpentina
2
Thallus dark olive-brown with a black prothallus; disc remaining slit-like; hymenium to 70 μm tall; ascospores (9–)11–12(–14) × 6–7(–8) μm
olivacea
Thallus pale-buff, to ochraceous, without a prothallus; disc usually expanded, lirellae 0.2–0.4 mm wide; hymenium >70 μm; ascospores (10–)12–17 × (5.5–)7–9 μm
graphidioides

Lithographa is a genus of six species included in the family Agyriaceae (Eriksson et al. 2004; Pennycook & Galloway 2004; Eriksson 2005). All species known are saxicolous, with one species being known from Great Britain, Europe and Scandinavia (Hertel & Rambold 1990),and the remainder being recorded from the cool temperate Southern Hemisphere, including Marion I. and the Prince Edward Is in the southern Indian Ocean (Hertel & Rambold 1990), Campbell I. (Fryday 2004a; Coppins & Fryday 2006), southern South America (Argentina and Chile), the Falkland Is and Tasmania (Coppins & Fryday 2006). Three species are known from New Zealand but the genus is still very poorly known and collected here.

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