Flora of New Zealand Series

Type : Laurera megasperma (Mont.) Riddle [=Trypethelium megaspermum Mont. (see Jørgensen & Santesson 1993: 884)].

Description : Flora (1985: 203–204).

Laurera, included in the family Trypetheliaceae (Eriksson et al. 2004; Pennycook & Galloway 2004; Eriksson 2005), is a genus of some 35 species (Kirk et al. 2001) of corticolous, mainly tropical lichens (Letrouit-Galinou 1957, 1958; Upreti & Singh 1987a; Makhija & Patwardhan 1988; Awasthi 1991; McCarthy 1995h). Useful information on the genus is given by McCarthy & Kantvilas (1993a) and Vongshewarat et al. (1999). Species of Laurera are characterised by: ascomata embedded in pseudostromata; fissitunicate asci; interthecial branched and anastomosing hyphae forming a loose and regular reticulum; and hyaline (becoming pale- to dark-brown when over-mature), muriform ascospores (Makhija & Patwardhan 1988). Some taxa are better placed in Bathelium Ach. (Harris 1995). Three species are recorded from New Zealand. The taxon Laurera madreporiformis var. obscurior (Babington 1855: 305) is referred to a bark-inhabiting fungus in the Xylariaceae (Galloway 1985a: 204). Material collected from Otari Hill in November 1872 by John Buchanan (72) and identified by James Stirton as Trypethelium connivens Nyl. (Stirton 1873: 22) was later named Melanotheca ornata Müll Arg. (Galloway 1985a: 273). The material has large, colourless to brown, densely muriform, thick-walled ascospores, 165–180(–210) × 40–50 μm, and is referable to Laurera. The genus is much in need of collection and further study in New Zealand.