Flora of New Zealand Series

≡Anaptychia casarettiana A.Massal., Mem. Lich.: 39 (1853).

Description : Thallus lobes slightly disjunct or adjacent, ±plane, not ascending, with short, lateral lobes. Upper surface even, smooth, sorediate. Soralia apical, labriform. Lower surface white to blackish violet suffused with yellow pigment, K−, often with a dense felt of black rhizines. Apothecia laminal, sessile to subpedicellate. Thalline exciple sorediate. Ascospores with sporoblastidia, 32–48 × 18– 25 μm.

Chemistry : Atranorin, zeorin, norstictic and salazinic acids and yellow pigment (K−).

K: Raoul I. N: Northland (Whangarei) Hunua Ra. to Taranaki (New Plymouth). On coastal trees – still very much under-collected. Known also from North, Central and South America, East and South Africa, the West Indies, Brazil, and Peru (Kurokawa 1962, 1973: 601, fig. 8; Swinscow & Krog 1976b, 1988; Kashiwadani et al. 1990; Aptroot 2002e).

Pantropical

Illustrations : Kurokawa (1962: pl. 6, fig. 37 – as Anaptychia casarettiana).

Heterodermia casarettiana is similar to H. japonica but is distinguished by the yellow pigment on the lower surface. This is deposited in the lower layers of the medulla, not in a superimposed layer of hyphae as in H. obscurata (Swinscow & Krog 1976b).