Flora of New Zealand Series

Thallus crustose or squamulose. Photobiont green Protococcus. Perithecia simple or compound, immersed or superficial. Algal cells (Pleurococcus or Stichococcus) present in the hymenium. Periphyses conglutinate. Ascospores colourless or brown, muriform 2, 4 or 8 per ascus.

Staurothele is a cosmopolitan genus of c. 40 species included in the family Staurotheleaceae. It is related to Endocarpon. Two species are recorded from New Zealand but the genus is very poorly known and collected here. Accounts of British [Swinscow Lichenologist 2: 152-166 (1963)] and European [Poelt Bestimmungsschl. europ. Flechten, pp. 622-630 (1969)] taxa contain much useful information.