Flora of New Zealand Series

Type : Gyalideopsis peruviana Vězda

Description : Flora (1985: 178).

Gyalideopsis is characterised by: (1) a crustose, often filmy thallus, frequently with erect, spinose, top-shaped or scale-like hyphophores; (2) an exciple lacking any secondary differentiation into a parathecium and amphithecium and which is composed entirely of slender, anastomosing and ramifying hyphae; (3) a non-amyloid (I−) hymenium; (4) a conspicuous gelatinous hymenial matrix through which thin paraphysoids anastomose and ramify as in the adjacent exciple; (5) asci with an apical apparatus in the form of a nasse; (6) hyaline ascospores, which are either transversely septate or muriform, the individual cells of which are ±constricted at their junction with adjacent cells; (7) a chlorococcoid photobiont.

Gyalideopsis a genus in the family Gomphillaceae (Vězda & Poelt 1987; Eriksson et al. 2004; Lücking et al. 2004; Pennycook & Galloway 2004; Eriksson 2005) has 78 described species (Vězda 1972, 1979, 1983a, 2003; Vězda & Poelt 1973; James 1975; Henssen & Lumbsch 1985; Kalb & Vězda 1988b, 1994a; Vězda and Hafellner 1988; Kantvilas & Vězda 1992; Vězda & Malcolm 1997; Dennetière & Péroni 1998; Sérusiaux 1998; Goward 1999; Etayo & Diederich 2001; Lendemer & Lücking 2004; Nash & Tønsberg 2004; Lücking et al. 2005, 2006). The genus is widely distributed and occurs in both temperate and tropical biomes, with the neotropics being a region of high speciation (Kalb & Vězda 1988b). A key to species occurring on bryophyes, detritus, bark and lignum is presented in Vězda (2003). Eight species are recorded from Australia (Filson 1996; McCarthy 2003c, 2006) and two species were listed from New Zealand (Galloway 1985a; Vězda & Malcolm 1997; Malcolm & Galloway 1997), though these are now referred to the genera Jamesiella (q.v.) and Lithogyalideopsis (q.v.). Species of Gyalideopsis s. str. may well occur in northern forests, and should be searched for there.