Flora of New Zealand Series

Type : Poeltiaria turgescens (Körb.) Hertel [Lecidella turgescens Körb.]

Description : Thallus crustose, forming thin to moderately thick thalli. Medulla I− to pale-blue or violet; without soredia, isidia or cephalodia. Photobiont green, trebouxioid. Ascomata apothecia, medium to large, with swollen margins, sessile, constricted at base to ±subimmersed; disc black, blue-grey or brownish, matt to pruinose. Exciple unpigmented. Hypothecium colourless, thick. Asci clavate, 8-spored; the apical tholus with an axial, amyloid tube (Porpidia -type). Ascospores broadly ellipsoidal, halonate. Conidiomata pycnidia, immersed. Conidia filiform to cylindrical.

Species of Poeltiaria occur in cool to warm temperate areas of the Southern Hemisphere (New Zealand, the subantarctic islands, SE Australia and Tasmania, South Africa and southern South America). The genus is included in the family Porpidiaceae (Eriksson et al. 2004; Pennycook & Galloway 2004; Eriksson 2005) and it is discussed in Hertel (1984b, 1985b, 1987b, 1989b, 2001) and Rambold (1989). Three species are known (Kirk et al. 2001), all of which occur in New Zealand.