Menegazzia A.Massal.
Type : Menegazzia terebrata (Hoffm.) A.Massal. [=Lobaria terebrata Hoffm.]
Descriptions : Flora (1985: 274–275). See also James & Galloway (1992: 214).
Key
Menegazzia, included in the family Parmeliaceae (Thell et al. 1995; Crespo & Cubero 1998; Eriksson et al. 2004; Pennycook & Galloway 2004; Eriksson 2005) comprises c. 70 species and it forms a particular and conspicuous element in the lichen mycobiotas of temperate and montane habitats in the Southern Hemisphere, with only six species being known from the Northern Hemisphere (Bitter 1901; Räsänen 1932; Santesson 1942; James in Galloway 1985a; James & Galloway 1992; Calvelo & Adler 1994; Adler & Calvelo 1996; Calvelo 1998; Bjerke 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004a, 2004b, 2004c, 2005; Bjerke & Elvebakk 2001; James et al. 2001; Bernasconi et al. 2002; Aptroot et al. 2003a; Bjerke et al. 2003; Kantvilas & Louwhoff 2004; Thell et al. 2004; Bjerke & Obermayer 2005). Menegazzia is characterised by: a foliose, and generally inflated thallus; the upper surface having prominent holes (a small number of species are isidiate and lack perforations); a black, white or sometimes pigmented medullary cavity; a naked, black lower surface; prominent, sessile to elevated, cupular, lecanorine apothecia; netted paraphyses; 2-spored or 8-spored asci containing thick-walled ascospores; immersed, punctiform pycnidia with short, bacillar conidia; and a diverse secondary chemistry of depsidones, fatty acids and pigments. It is recognised that up to 10 species remain to be described from the Southern Hemisphere with several of these known from New Zealand, where the genus is often extremely common as a dominant epiphyte in Nothofagus forests E of the Main Divide in the Southern Alps. The present account records 20 species, but in the light of recent work on Tasmanian and South American populations (see above), it is recognised that New Zealand's Menegazzia mycobiota is more complex than this. A detailed regional monograph is thus an urgent necessity.