Catillaria melanotropa (Nyl.) Zahlbr.
Lecidea melanotropa Nyl., J. Linn. Soc. Lond. Bot. 9: 255 (1866).
L. leucoplacoides Krempelh., Verhandl. zool.-bot. Ges. Wien 26: 454 (1876).
L. caesiopallens Nyl., C. r. hebd. Séanc. Acad. Sci. Paris 83: 90 (1876).
L. hemitropa Nyl., Lich. N.Z.: 86 (1888).
L. caesiopallens var. amoenior Nyl., Lich. N.Z.: 85 (1888).
C. caesia Zahlbr., Denkschr. Akad. Wiss. Wien math.-naturwiss Kl. 104: 314 (1941).
Lectotype: New Zealand. Otago, Dunedin. October 1861. W.L. Lindsay, H-NYL 18183!
Lecidea leucoplacoides. Lectotype: New Zealand. Sine loco (prob. Wellington). Charles Knight, M 123-80/13!
Lecidea caesiopallens. Lectotype: New Zealand. Campbell I. Filhol, 1874, H-NYL 18279a!
Lecidea hemitropa. Holotype: New Zealand. Sine loco (prob. Wellington). Charles Knight 67, 1867, H-NYL 18193!
Lecidea caesiopallens var. amoenior. Holotype: New Zealand. Sine loco (prob. Wellington). Charles Knight 122, H-NYL 18282!
C. caesiopallens var. tristior. Type: New Zealand. Rangitoto I., on Avicennia resinifera. H.H. Allan, CHR 373801!
C. caesiopallens var. tristior f. nigrita. Lectotype: New Zealand, Rangitoto I. on Metrosideros excelsa. H.H. Allan 77, CHR 373890!
C. caesia. Lectotype: New Zealand. North Auckland, Mahurangi River on Avicennia resinifera. L.B. Moore 129, CHR 373889!
Thallus creamy, whitish or pale greenish, thin or thick, scattered or ± continuous, verrucose-rimose to ± areolate to ± furfuraceous, uneven-verrucose, shining or matt, in irregular patches 1-3(-8) cm diam., with or without a thin, black, wavy prothallus at margins, corticolous. Apothecia sessile, constricted at base, solitary or 1-3-confluent, plane to convex, 0.1-1.0 mm diam., disc brownish-black to reddish-brown, with or without a distinct blue-white pruina, margins prominent, swollen, entire to subcrenulate, persistent, blackened concolorous with disc in exposed forms, or more often reddish-brown, translucent. Epithecium black or olive-brown, 10-13 µm thick. Hymenium colourless 60-75 µm tall. Hypothecium olive-greenish or brownish, 40-50 µm thick. Asci I+ blue. Ascospores biseriate oval or broadly ellipsoid with pointed or rounded ends (13.5-)15-19(-22) × 6-7(-9) µm, straight or slightly curved and ± fabiform.
N: North Auckland to Wellington. S: Nelson to Southland. St: C: Widely distributed on bark of trees and shrubs in lowland forest.
Endemic
A commonly collected, very variable species. Thallus colour varies from whitish-cream to olive-greenish, often in the same specimen; some specimens from exposed sites are also ± blackened. The thallus can be moderately thick and well developed to ± effuse and discontinuous. Apothecia vary considerably in the presence and quantity of pruina developed, densely pruinose and epruinose fruits often occurring on the same specimen, thallus margins also vary from black and matt to red-brown and translucent. The extensive synonymy stems mainly from formal recognition of the variations in colour and texture of fruits.
