Trapeliopsis granulosa
Synonyms
Lecidea granulosa, Verrucaria granulosa
Family
Trapeliaceae
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 terricolous/corticolous habit; the whitish to pale-grey thallus of crowded granular to verrucose areolae; whitish to creamish to grey-green, granular soralia; pale-pink to red-brown or piebald apothecia which are often convex and immarginate; hymenium 70–80 μm tall; asci 60–80 μm long; and ascospores 9–14 × 4–6 μm.
Distribution
North Island: Northland (Radar Bush, Tutamoe), South Auckland (Mt Moehau Coromandel Peninsula, Mt Pirongia, Moerangi) to Wellington (Rimutaka Ranges). South Island: Nelson (Mt Arthur, Lake Tennyson), Canterbury (Bealey Spur, Hanmer), Otago (Loganburn Reservoir, Mt Maungatua), Southland. Stewart Island.
Known also from Great Britain, Europe, Scandinavia, Greenland, Morocco, Turkey, the Ukraine, North America, Argentina, the Falkland Islands, the Antarctic Peninsula and Australia.
Habitat
A primary coloniser on soil or rotting stumps or plant debris; spreading in patches 5–10 cm diam. Associating with Neophyllis melacarpa, Placynthiella uliginosa and Trapeliopsis congregans.
Mainly in forested areas along tracks, roads or in cut-over areas or regenerating areas devastated by fire, on decorticated stumps, also in damp, subalpine to high-alpine grassland.
Detailed description
Thallus minutely granular-verrucose, dark green (in shade) to pale greenish-grey or fawnish, often with yellow-green or yellow-brown or rust-red soralia when sterile. Apothecia common, crowded (giving thallus a pinkish or orange tinge), sessile, 0.01-0.5 mm diam., disc plane to convex, orange-pink to pale pink or brown, proper margin pale, entire, persistent. Hymenium colourless, 70-90 µm tall. Hypothecium olive to red-brown. Ascospores ellipsoid, 8-13 × 4-6 µm.
Chemistry: Thallus and soralia C+ red (fading fast); containing gyrophoric acid.
Similar taxa
Similar to Icmadophila ericetorum, whose presence is doubtful in New Zealand.
Substrate
Terricolous, corticolous
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Marley Ford (24 February 2022). 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.