Flora of New Zealand Series

Type : Melasapilea arthonioides (Fée) Nyl. [=Lecidea arthonioides Fée]

Descriptions : Flora (1985: 274). See also Hawksworth (1992b: 367).

Melaspilea is a genus of some 80 species of cosmopolitan distribution (Ryan & Nimis 2004b), best developed in the tropics. It is the generitype of the monogeneric family Melaspilaceae (Hawksworth et al. 1995: 271; Kirk et al. 2001; Eriksson et al. 2004; Pennycook & Galloway 2004; Eriksson 2005). Species are found on bark, rarely on rock, or occsionally on other lichens. The genus name is customarily applied to crustose taxa having lirelliform apothecia and 1-septate ascospores that are ornamented and brownish at maturity, although it is recognised that this circumscription embraces a heterogeneous collection of species (Hawksworth 1992d). A modern revision of the group is urgently needed. One species occurs in New Zealand. The taxon Melaspilea gallowayi (Kondratyuk & Galloway 1995a) is referred to Plectocarpon (q.v.).