Flora of New Zealand Series

Type : * Abrothallus bertianus De Not. [Regarding valid publication of Abrothallus, Alstrup & Hawksworth (1990: 15) note ... "The generic name is sometimes indicated as published in an 1845 preprint of de Notaris's 1849 work (Farr et al. 1979: 3) but we have not located such a copy. The 1849 paper [de Notaris 1849: 351] states that it was 'Exhib. 15 iunii 1845', and de Notaris (1846: 195) assumed that it was validly published before then, but the work was apparently then still in press."].

Description : Lichenicolous, commensalistic on thallus of host, immersed in host tissue. Ascomata apothecia, immersed at first becoming erumpent, sessile or stipitate. Hamathecium of richly branched, anastomosing paraphysoids, not or slightly swollen between septa. Asci fissitunicate, elongate-clavate to subcylindrical, 4–8-spored. Ascospores broadly ellipsoidal, 1-septate (sometimes separating into semi-spores) or occasionally 2- or 3-septate, slightly constricted at septum, dark-brown, warted.

Anamorph : * Vouauxiomyces (q.v.).

Taxa of Abrothallus are widespread, comprising c. 20 species, all lichenicolous fungi (Tulasne 1852; Lindsay 1857, 1866c; Vouaux 1913c: 463–471; Schaechtelin & Werner 1926; Keissler 1930: 202–218; Nordin 1964; Hawksworth 1975, 1990a; Bellemère et al. 1986; Clauzade et al. 1989; Diederich 1989, 1990, 2003, 2004b; Alstrup & Hawksworth 1990; Wedin 1994; Hawksworth et al. 1995; Hauger 1996; Cole & Hawksworth 2001; Triebel & Scholz 2001; Etayo 2002; Etayo & Osorio 2004; Santesson et al. 2004; Suija 2006). It is presently placed in Ascomycota incertae sedis (Lawrey & Diederich 2003; Eriksson et al. 2004; Pennycook & Galloway 2004; Eriksson 2005). The Scottish lichenologist William Lauder Lindsay (1829–1880), who was early interested in lichenicolous fungi, wrote an account of Abrothallus (Lindsay 1857) as one of his first contributions to the literature of lichen parasymbionts, and it is still an interesting read. Lindsay visited Otago in 1861–1862 at the invitation of Lt John Cargill, son of the Superintendent of the Province of Otago, and he was the first to collect and publish on species of Abrothallus in New Zealand. From his Otago collections he recorded A. curreyi, A. oxysporus [=Nesolechia oxyspora (q.v.)] and Phymatopsis dubia [=Phoma dubia (q.v.)] (Lindsay 1866b, 1866c). Subsequently, additional taxa were recorded from New Zealand (Hellbom 1896: 147; Vouaux 1913c: 470–471). At present, three species are recorded from New Zealand, but the genus is still very much undercollected and poorly understood here.

Vouaux (l.c.) refers a NZ collection of Abrothallus peyritschii (Stein) Kotte to Hellbom (1896), but there is no mention of this species in Hellbom and I have not seen a copy of Kotte (1909) who may in fact have made this assertion. A. peyritschii is mentioned as occurring in New Zealand by Clauzade et al. (1989) and by Diederich (2004b: 628), but the record needs checking. It is not included in this account as Northern Hemisphere collections of this taxon all parasitise Vulpicidia pinastri (see Cole & Hawksworth 2001), a lichen not known from New Zealand.