Flora of New Zealand Series

Type : Porina phyllogena Müll.Arg. [=Phylloporis phyllogena (Müll.Arg.) Clem.]

Description : Thallus epiphyllous (supracuticular), crustose, spreading. Photobiont green, Phycopeltis. Ascomata perithecia, details as in Strigula (q.v.)

Phylloporis Clem., viz. the Porina phyllogena- group of Santesson (1952: 208 – comprising the foliicolous taxa: P. phyllogena, P. platypoda, P. multipunctata and P. obducta), was re-established by Vězda (1984), who transferred the above four taxa to it and emphasised its close affinity with Strigula. Vězda noted that species of Phylloporis have supracuticular thalli and Phycopeltis as photobiont, whereas species of Strigula have subcuticular thalli and Cephaleuros as photobiont. Hawksworth (1986a: 151), however, pointed out that Strigula also includes corticolous species with other photobionts, characters that, in his opinion, do not justify a generic separation. Santesson & Tibell (1988) listed three species from Australia and Lücking (1991: 276) described a new species from Costa Rica, later found also in New Zealand by Bill Malcolm (Malcolm et al. 1996). Harris (1995) subsequently transferred taxa of Phylloporis into Strigula, a position adopted also by Farkas & Sipman (1997). Pending further studies on the relationships of Strigula and Phylloporis, the latter genus name is adopted here in accordance with Lücking (1992), Malcolm et al. (1996) and McCarthy (2003c, 2006).