Flora of New Zealand Series

Type : Loxospora elatina (Ach.) A.Massal. [=Lecanora elatina Ach.]

Description : Thallus crustose, corticolous, K+ yellow (thamnolic acid). Ascomata apothecia, sessile to subpedicellate; discs dark red-brown to brown-black or black, with or without a grey-white pruina. Thalline exciple persistent, often prominent, concolorous with thallus. Epithecium densely granular, red-brown or yellow-brown. Hymenium colourless or streaked red-brown or purplish, inspersed with oil droplets. Hypothecium colourless, red-brown, orange or brown-black. Hamathecium of paraphyses, sparingly branched and anastomosing, apices swollen, pigmented. Asci clavate, with a well-developed amyloid tholus, 8-spored. Ascospores twisted in ascus, simple or transversely septate, colourless, ellipsoidal, fusiform–acicular to fabiform. Conidiomata pycnidia, immersed, visible as minute, black dots. Conidia simple, colourless, bacillar.

Loxospora, included in the family Sarrameanaceae (Hafellner 1984; Kantvilas 2004d) [syn. Loxosporaceae (Staiger & Kalb 1995; Eriksson et al. 2004; Pennycook & Galloway 2004; Eriksson 2005)], comprises nine described species, 6 of which occur mainly in cool temperate areas of the Northern Hemisphere. Formerly included in the genus Haematomma, it was pointed out by Rogers & Hafellener (1988: 174), that brown-fruited species of this genus would be better accommodated in Loxospora, a position now widely adopted. Loxospora is characterised by a crustose thallus containing thamnolic acid; hemiangiocarpic apothecia; 8-spored asci with a well-developed, dome-like, uniformly amyloid tholus (Brodo & Henssen (1995); who discuss ascus structure and development, and relationships with Ophioparma and Loxosporopsis); a hamathecium of simple or sparingly branched paraphyses; and spirally arranged, simple or indistinctly septate, colourless ascospores. Loxospora is closely related to Sarrameana (q.v.), but this latter genus differs mainly in its thalline chemistry and gymnocarpic apothecia (Kantvilas 2000c). The taxa Sarrameana cyamidia, S. septata and S. tasmanica, were recently transferred to Loxospora (Kantvilas 2000c). All three occur in New Zealand.