Flora of New Zealand Series

≡*Diplodina lecanorae Vouaux in C.-J.M. Pitard & J.H.A. Harmand, Bull. Soc. Bot. Fr., Mém. 22: 69 (1912).

Description : Lichenicolous. Pycnidia arising singly, scattered, immersed in hymenium of host at first but becoming erumpent and sometimes cupulate, unilocular, globose, appearing as minute, dark-brown to blackish spots, 50–120 μm diam., walls 5–6 μm thick, of 2–3 layers of brown, thick-walled pseudoparenchymatous cells forming a textura angularis; not with a well-defined ostiole, but opening by disintegration of part of the upper wall to release conidia. Conidiogenous cells lageniform to cylindrical, lining the entire pycnidial cavity, percurrently proliferating with up to 4 annellations, hyaline to dark-brown, discrete, smooth-walled, 5.5–12 × 2–3 μm. Conidia holoblastic, cylindrical, pale-brown, dry, 1-euseptate, not distinctly guttulate, smooth-walled, apex obtuse, base truncate and sometimes with a persistent marginal frill, 4–7.5 × 4–4.5 μm.

N: S: Otago (Teviot Valley). Known also from Great Britain, Europe, Scandinavia, Greenland, the Canary Is, Madeira, Morocco, Cyprus, North America, Argentina (Hawksworth & Dyko 1979; Hawksworth 1981, 1983a; Christiansen 1986; Hansen et al. 1987a; Alstrup & Hawksworth 1990; Triebel et al. 1991; Santesson 1993; Esslinger & Egan 1995; Diederich & Sérusiaux 2000; Scholz 2000; Cole & Hawksworth 2001; Llimona & Hladun 2001; Triebel & Scholz 2001; Hafellner et al. 2002; Kukwa 2002c; Martínez et al. 2002; Diederich 2003, 2004g; Hawksworth 2003).

Cosmopolitan

Hosts : Caloplaca cerina, C. cerinella, C. cerinelloides, C. ferruginea, C. flavorubescens, Lecanora dispersa, L. polytropa. For additional hosts elsewhere in this species' range see Hawksworth & Dyko (1979), Hawksworth (1981) and Alstrup & Hawskworth (1990).

Illustrations : Hawksworth & Dyko (1979: 53, pl. 1A, B; 54, fig. 1); Hawksworth (1983a: 38, fig. 60).

* Lichenodiplis lecanorae is characterised by: the lichenicolous habit; the small, scattered, dark-brown to blackish semi-erumpent conidia parasitising the apothecial disc of host. It is primarily a species of lichen apothecia and up to 18 or more pycnidia may occur on a single apothecial disc. Infected areas retain their normal colours and the parasite appears to do little damage to the host lichen; conidiomata, 50–120 μm diam; conidia 4–7.5 × 2–3 μm.