Sticta babingtonii
Family
Peltigeraceae
Flora category
Lichen – Native
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Lichens - Foliose
Current conservation status
2018 | At Risk – Declining | Qualifiers: DP
Brief description
Characterised by the corticolous/saxicolous habit; irregular to orbicular, rather coriaceous, brittle thalli; a green photobiont; a white medulla; densely developed, characteristic marginal phyllidia that are often minutely pubescent below; distinctive ochre-brown, orange, yellow or pinkish cyphellae on the lower surface; and colourless to pale yellow-brown, 7-septate, slightly curved ascospores, 45–55(–61) × 8–11 μm.
Distribution
North Island: Northland to Taranaki. South Island: Nelson (Kaihoka Lakes).
Habitat
Epiphytic on coastal trees (Agathis australis, Beilschmiedia tarairi, Cordyline australis, Leptospermum scoparium agg., Lophomyrtus, Pseudopanax crassifolius, Quintinia serrata and Weinmannia silivicola, and on damp rock faces and coastal rocks.
Detailed description
Thallus 5-10(-15) cm diam., ± loosely attached, thick, coriaceous, rather brittle when dry. Lobes 2-4(-5) mm wide, to 15 mm long, ± discrete at periphery, overlapping and becoming complicate-convolute centrally, margins raised, crenate-incised, pectinate, sinuous, phyllidiate. Upper surface matt, smooth, lettuce-green to olive-greenish when wet, tinged red-brown to dark brown at margins, pale greenish-buff when dry, ± papillate in places (internal cephalodia). Phyllidia mainly marginal and there often dense, less often laminal, simple to coralloid-branched, 0.1-0.3 mm wide, 0.2-1.2 mm tall, terete to flattened, often minutely pubescent below, tinged brownish at apices. Lower surface mainly smooth, minutely wrinkled or pitted near margins, ± uniformly tomentose to margins, tomentum thin at margins, thick centrally, brownish to brown- black centrally, buff or pale brown at margins. Cyphellae sparse to numerous, 0.1-1.5 mm diam., sunk in tomentum, round to irregular, membrane of pit roughened, ochre-brown, orange, yellowish or dull brownish-pink, never white. says Apothecia not seen by Galloway (1985) but have recently been observed (Marley Ford pers. comm.).
Chemistry: A range of yellow and orange (UV+ yellow or orange after charring) pigments.
Similar taxa
It is distinguished from Sticta squamata and S. martinii in the colour of the cyphellae (the other species may have white cyphellae), nature of the lobes, and the colour of the lower surface. In early accounts of New Zealand lichens, S. babingtonii was recorded as S. variabilis, a palaeotropical phyllidiate species known from the Indian Ocean islands and East Africa, but not present in New Zealand. It is distinguished from S. babingtonii in the more delicate, friable lobes, the white cyphellae and by 3-septate ascospores. It is possibly related to the Lord Howe endemic S. flavocyphellata, which also has orange to ochre-brown cyphellae on the lower surface, but which has entire margins without phyllidia.
Substrate
Corticolous, occasionally saxicolous.
Etymology
sticta: spotted, dappled
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Marley Ford (17 June 2021). Information in the Brief description, Distribution, Habitat, Features and Similar taxa 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.