Lecanora elatinoides
Description : Thallus continuous or rimose, yellowish grey to greenish grey, epruinose, visible only at thalline margins. Soredia present. No distinct soralia formed, but thallus dissolving into soredia and then the whole surface becoming granular–pulverulent. Soredia granular, yellowish green to yellowish grey. Prothallus lacking or grey-white. Apothecia rare, sessile, 0.5–1.4 mm diam., discs red-brown to orange-brown, epruinose. Margins concolorous with thallus, thin, rough, entire to verruculose, often dissolving into soredia. Cortex hyaline, 10–25 μm thick, inspersed with small crystals. Amphithecium with large crystals, not dissolving in K (L. pulicaris type). Parathecium hyaline, 15 μm thick, with crystals. Epithecium dark brown, 10–12 μm thick, pigmentation dissolving in K, with crystals (L. chlarotera type). Hypothecium yellowish, paraphyses slightly thickened apically. Spores ellipsoidal to broadly ellipsoidal, 11.0–15.5 × 8.5–10.5 μm.
Chemistry : Thallus K+ yellow, C+ orange, Pd+ red. Major compounds: arthothelin, pannarin and ±usnic acid; minor compounds: asemone, atranorin, chloroatranorin, ±usnic acid and unidentified triterpenoids.
N: Northland. On coastal trees and shrubs especially mangrove (Avicennia marina) and pohutukawa (Metrosideros excelsa) and in urban parks and roadside plantings (on Pinus pinaster) (Galloway et al. 2001: 30–31). Also known from E Australia (Lumbsch et al. 1995; McCarthy 2003c, 2006; Lumbsch & Elix 2004).
Australasian
Illustration : Lumbsch et al. (1995: 564, fig. 4).
Lecanora elatinoides is characterised by: the corticolous habit; a thallus that rapidly dissolves into soredia, and the presence of pannarin and arthothelin. It is a rather uniform species, although the structure of the soralia may vary from completely covering the thallus surface to remaining relatively distinct and only rarely coalescing in some morphodemes.
