Parmotrema A.
=CANOMACULINA Elix & Hale, 1987
=RIMELIA Hale & A.Fletcher, 1990
=RIMELIELLA Kurok., 1991
Type : Parmotrema perforatum (Jacq.) A. Massal [=Lichen perforatus Jacq.]
Type : Canomaculina pilosa (Stizenb.) Hale [=Parmelia pilosa Stizenb.]
Type : Rimelia cetrata (Ach.) Hale & A.Fletcher [(Parmelia cetrata Ach.) =Parmotrema cetratum (Ach.) Hale]
Type : Rimeliella subcaperata (Kremp.) Kurok. [(=Parmelia subcaperata Kremp.) =Parmotrema subcaperatum (Kremp.) Hale]
Description : Thallus foliose, loosely adnate to adnate, large, Lobes broad, apically rotund, 2–3 mm wide; margins entire or variously incised or ornamented, with or without cilia; cilia simple or branched. Upper surface grey to grey-green, yellowish grey or pale-green (atranorin and chloroatranorin, rarely with additional usnic acid), flat or rarely convex, glossy or dull, smooth, undulate to rugose or faveolate, with or without maculae, soredia and isidia, without pseudocyphellae. Upper cortex of palisade plectenchyma with a well-developed, pored epicortex. Cell walls containing Cetraria -type lichenan. Medulla white, wholly pigmented or pigmented adjacent to lower cortex. Lower surface brown or black, rhizinate, commonly with a broad (more than 1 mm wide), paler, marginal zone free of rhizines; rhizines central or grouped subapically, usually rather sparse, simple or rarely branched; slender or coarse, brown or black. Ascomata apothecia, laminal, commonly pedicellate; disc perforate or not; thalline exciple smooth or rugose, sometimes maculate. Ascospores 8 per ascus, ellipsoidal or rarely reniform or globose–ellipsoidal, large and thick-walled, 8–37 × 5–18 μm. Conidiomata pycnidia, laminal, immersed. Conidia sublageniform (3–10 × 1 μm), filiform (8–20 × 1–5 μm), or cylindrical (4–8 × 1 μm).
Key
Parmotrema, included in the family Parmeliaceae (Pennycook & Galloway 2004; Eriksson 2005), is a genus of large, foliose lichens comprising more than 300 described species (Hale 1974b, 1977; Hale & Ahti 1986; Elix 1994p; Louwhoff & Elix 1999; Kantvilas et al. 2002; Blanco et al. 2005). A recent phylogenetic analysis of Parmotrema suggested that the genera Rimelia and Canomaculina (see below) might be better treated as subgenera of Parmotrema (Louwhoff & Crisp 2000), a position endorsed by a definitive molecular study (Blanco et al. 2005), whose conclusions are followed here.
Canomaculina was initially segregated from Parmelina (Elix & Hale 1987) to accommodate the Parmelina pilosa group of taxa, which have distinctive effigurate maculae present on the upper surface (×10 lens). The genus was subsequently expanded in scope to accommodate taxa referred to Rimeliella Kurok., a genus segregated from Parmotrema (Kurokawa 1991b), with this latter genus subsequently being shown to be congeneric with Canomaculina (Elix 1997c). South America appears to be the major area of speciation in the genus with species occurring on bark or rocks in drier, subtropical savannah woodland areas and montane forests (Elix 1994a). Twenty-three species were included in the genus (Elix & Hale 1987; Elix 1994c, 1997c; Ferraro & Elix 2000), with two known from New Zealand (Elix 1994c; Kurokawa 2001).
Rimelia comprised 15 species worldwide (Elix & Johnston 1988a; Hale & Fletcher 1990; Elix 1994r; Louwhoff & Crisp 2000; Kirk et al. 2001; Kurokawa & Lai 2001; Moon et al. 2001; Kantvilas et al. 2002; Nash & Elix 2002h), of which three are known from New Zealand.
Species of Parmotrema are best-developed in tropical and temperate regions of the world (Hale 1965b; Winnem 1975; Krog & Swinscow 1981, 1988; Elix 1994p; Louwhoff & Elix 1999; Kurokawa & Lai 2001; Nash & Elix 2002g). Seventeen species are currently recognised from New Zealand, though it is still likely that additional taxa will be discovered once northern coastal localities are much better known lichenologically than they are at present.
