Lecidella sublapicida

Lecidella is a genus of c. 50 species, all except one of which are lichenised and occur on exposed stone, bark, wood or rarely on decaying vegetation (including other lichens). It is included in the family Lecanoraceae and is characterised by: green-black or green-brown pigments in the epithecium; sessile, black or dark red-brown, lecideine apothecia; Lecidella-type asci [known only from Lecidella; lax simple paraphyses with scarcely swollen apices; simple, thick-walled ascospores without a perispore; and a secondary chemistry characterised by the abundant occurrence of chlorinated xanthones (C+ orange). Taxa occur from polar to tropical regions. In the Flora (Galloway 1985: 242–243; 636–637) five taxa were discussed, but since then several more species have been added to the list of taxa known from New Zealand, and more detailed chemical and anatomical data on these are now available.