Flora of New Zealand Series

Type : Miriquidica complanata (Körb.) Hertel & Rambold [Lecanora complanata Körb.]

Description : Thallus crustose, of scattered to continuous areolae. Areolae corticate, often with a distinct epinecral layer, with or without soredia; medulla I−; a black prothallus sometimes present. Photobiont green, protococcoid. Ascomata apothecia, black or dark-brown, sessile to subimmersed. Margins biatorine, distinct, thalline exciple usually absent. Exciple of radially arranged hyphae, 5–7 μm thick at outer edge, reduced in taxa with immersed apothecia, greenish or brownish at outer edge, never black and brittle. Epithecium greenish (N+ red) or brownish (N− ). Hymenium colourless, I+ blue. Hypothecium colourless. Hamathecium of paraphyses, ±branched and anastomosing, apices ±clavate and surrounded by a closely adhering pigmented hood. Asci clavate, 8-spored, Lecanora -type (Malcolm & Galloway 1997: 186), tholus pale amyloid, without amyloid zone above masse axiale. Outer amyloid wall layer thin. Ascospores simple, occasionally with a false cytoplasmic septum, rarely 1-septate with age, ellipsoidal to oblong–ellipsoidal. Conidiomata pycnidia, immersed. Conidia curved, filiform, 15–28 × 0.5–1 μm. Chemistry containing miriquidic acid in most species [identified as a peacock-blue spot on TLC plates].

Miriquidica, comprising some 20 species (Hertel & Rambold 1987; Rambold & Schwab 1990; Rambold et al. 1996; Owe-Larsson & Rambold 2001; Hertel & Andreev 2003; Andreev 2004; Nash et al. 2004b), is accommodated in the family Lecanoraceae (Eriksson et al. 2004; Pennycook & Galloway 2004; Eriksson 2005). The genus comprises taxa that were formerly placed in the genera Aspicilia, Lecanora, Lecidella and Lecidea. Miriquidica is rather closely related to Protoparmelia M.Choisy and to Bryonora Poelt (Rambold & Schwab 1990; Owe-Larsson & Rambold 2001). Thallus colour ranges from white to dark-brown, dark-grey to rust-coloured. The genus occurs most commonly in boreal–montane and arctic–alpine habitats of Europe and North America, with two species known also from the alpine zone in SE Australia (Rambold 1989). At present two species are known from alpine regions of South I. (Fryday 2000a; Hertel 2001a), and are further additions to the list of bipolar taxa known from New Zealand. It is possible that additional species could be found in alpine habitats here.