Flora of New Zealand Series

≡Biatora wulfenii Hepp, Flecht. Eur.: No. 5 (1853).

Description : Thallus crustose, whitish or grey-white, granular or scurfy, to evanescent, without a delimiting prothallus. Apothecia scattered, sessile, black, matt, lecideine, flat to subconvex, 0.2–0.7 mm diam., proper margin present or absent. Epithecium blue-black to olive-brown. Hymenium 60–90 μm tall, colourless. Hypothecium brownish to brown-black. Asci clavate. Ascospores ellipsoidal, 11–16 × 6–9 μm. Pycnidia immersed. Conidia filiform, 14–20 × 0.6–1 μm.

Chemistry : Thallus K− or + yellow, C+ orange, KC−, Pd−; containing aotearone, capistratone and ±atranorin (Knoph & Leuckert 1997).

S: Canterbury (Ashburton River, W of Harakeke, lower Godley Valley), Otago (Raggedy Ra., Old Man Ra.). Spreading over decaying vegetation and on moribund thalli of Peltigera lepidophora in depleted subalpine to alpine grassland. Associating with Arthrorhaphis alpina and Lepraria neglecta at high altitudes. Still very poorly known and collected in New Zealand. An arctic–alpine species characteristic of windswept alpine habitats in the Northern Hemisphere where it is known from Great Britain, Europe, Scandinavia, the Arctic, Asia, North America, Venezuela, South Orkney Is and South Shetland Is (Hertel 1971a; Purvis & James 1992; Nimis 1993; Santesson 1993; Türk et al. 1993; Esslinger & Egan 1995; Kondratyuk et al. 1996a; Brodo et al. 2001; Øvstedal & Lewis Smith 2001; Nimis & Martellos 2003; Knoph & Leuckert 2004; Santesson et al. 2004; Søchting et al. 2004).

Bipolar

Illustrations : Hepp (1853: tab. III, No. 5); Wirth (1995b: 523).

Lecidella wulfenii is characterised by: the muscicolous/terricolous habit (on litter or dead lichens); the grey-white, scurfy, somewhat effuse thallus (C+ orange); scattered, sessile, black apothecia, 0.2–0.7 mm diam.; a blue-black to olive-brown epithecium; a brown-black hypothecium; ellipsoidal ascospores, 11–16 × 6–9 μm; and filiform conidia, 14–20 × 0.6–1 μm.