Flora of New Zealand Series

Type : Lecanographa lyncea (Sm.) Egea & Torrente [Lichen lynceus Sm.]

Description : Thallus crustose, ecorticate, strongly adhering to substratum. Medulla thick. Photobiont green, Trentepohlia. Ascomata apothecia, rounded or lirellate, immersed at first, becoming sessile, constricted at base, margins and disc white-, grey- or yellow-pruinose. Exciple brown-black, of strongly gelatinised hyphae, without granules or crystals dissolving in K. Hamathecium of strongly branched and anastomosing paraphysoids. Asci Grumulosa -type (Egea & Torrente 1994: 20, fig. 1), 8-spored. Ascospores oblong-ovoid to fusiform, 3–12-septate, colourless at first, becoming brownish and warted at maturity. Conidiomata pycnidia, immersed. Microconidia straight or rarely curved, 4–17 × 0.8– 1.5 μm. Macroconidia not seen.

Lecanographa is a genus of 30 species (Egea & Torrente 1994; Follmann & Werner 2003; Egea et al. 2004c; Kantvilas 2004j), included in the family Roccellaceae (Eriksson et al. 2004; Pennycook & Galloway 2004; Eriksson 2005). The genus is best developed in Mediterranean climates and both corticolous and saxicolous (frequently coastal rocks) taxa are known as well as species growing as parasites on other lichens. Many species grown in shaded situations of high humidity. One species is known in New Zealand, but the genus is still very poorly studied here.