Verrucaria dolosa
Description : Thallus superficial or almost absent, pale- to dark-green or olive-brown, diffuse and granular to definite and continuous, rimose or areolate, (0.02–)0.05–0.15(–0.2) mm thick. Areolae plane, polygonal, 0.2–0.4 mm wide. Surface smooth to scabrid, sometimes verruculose or farinose, matt or glossy. Perithecia numerous, compound semi-immersed to ±superficial. Involucrellum hemispherical to conical, 0.15–0.25(–0.3) mm diam., matt or glossy, black, extending to exciple-base level, 20–50 μm thick. Centrum 0.1–0.22 mm diam. Exciple hyaline, becoming pale- to dark-brown in older perithecia, 12–20 μm thick. Periphyses 20–30 × 1–2 μm. Asci cylindrical, clavate or obovate, 33–55 × 11–18 μm. Ascospores ellipsoidal to oblong-ellipsoidal or obovate, 11–17 × 4–7 μm, contents finely granular.
S: Otago (Makarora Valley near Haast Pass, Matanaka). On greywacke rocks and on coastal calcareous sandstone. Known also from Great Britain, Europe, Scandinavia, Newfoundland in Canada, Hong Kong, Brazil, and Taiwan (McCarthy 1988; Aptroot & Seaward 1999; Aptroot 2002e, 2003a).
?Bipolar
Illustration : McCarthy (1988: 9, fig. 3).
Verrucaria dolosa is characterised by: the saxicolous habit (greywacke and calcareous sandstone); the superficial, pale- to dark-green to olive-brown, granular to areolate thallus; semi-immersed to superficial perithecia; the hyaline to pale- or dark-brown exciple; and ascospores 11–17 × 4–7 μm.
