Megalaria grossa
Synonyms
Biatorina corroborans, Biatorina melaclina, Biatorina melaclina f. melastegia, Catillaria corroborans, Catillaria intermixta var. pallescens, Catillaria melaclina, Catillaria melaclina f. areniseda, Catillaria melastegia, Catillaria weinmanniae, Catinaria grossa, Lecidea corroborans, Lecidea grossa, Lecidea melaclina, Lecidea melastegia, Patellaria corroborans, Patellaria melaclina
Family
Ramalinaceae
Flora category
Lichen – Native
Endemic taxon
No
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Lichens - Crustose
Current conservation status
2018 | Not Threatened | Qualifiers: SO
Brief description
Characterised by the corticolous habit; the olive greenish, to creamish buff, areolate, roughened–granular to verrucose thallus; large black apothecia with prominent, flexuous, concolorous proper exciple; an olive-green to blue-black epithecium to 22 μm thick with crytals and oil droplets; a colourless hymenium to 150 μm tall; a thick, blue-black or brown-black hypothecium, 200–250 μm thick; simple paraphyses capitate at their apices; and moderately thick-walled, colourless ascospores(17–)20–34(–38) × 10–14(–18) μm.
Distribution
North Island: Northland to Wellington. South Island: Canterbury to Fiordland. Stewart Island. Campbell Island.
Cosmopolitan. Known from the United Kingdom, Western Europe, Scandinavia (where it is red-listed; Arup et al. 1997), North America, Chile, Argentina, Norfolk Island, and Australia.
Habitat
Widely distributed on bark and twigs of smooth-barked trees and shrubs in lowland forest, especially on Griselinia littoralis and Hoheria, s.l. to 300 m.
Detailed description
Chemistry: TLC−, all reactions negative.
Substrate
Corticolous
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Melissa Hutchison (18 June 2023). Brief description, Distribution, Habitat, and Features sections copied from Galloway (1985, 2007).
References and further reading
Galloway D.J. 1985: Flora of New Zealand: Lichens. Wellington: PD Hasselberg, Government Printer. 662 pp.
Galloway D.J. 2007: Flora of New Zealand: Lichens, including lichen-forming and lichenicolous fungi. 2nd edition. Lincoln, Manaaki Whenua Press. 2261 pp.