Australian Biological Resources Study
| Checklist of the Lichens of Australia and its Island Territories | ||
| Introduction | A–D | E–O | P–R | S–Z | Oceanic Islands | References | ||
| Lithothelium austropacificum P.M.McCarthy | ||
| Lichenologist 28: 290 (1996). T: Lord Howe Island, lower slopes of Mt Lidgbird, between Little Island and "The Cross", 31°31'S, 159°04'E, alt. c. 50 m, on shaded basalt, 8 February 1995, P.M.McCarthy 1066; holo: CANB. | ||
| Thallus crustose, epilithic, greyish green to yellowish green, rimose to areolate, 30–60 (–100) µm thick, K-, UV-, ecorticate but with a 10–15 µm thick uppermost layer with few or no algal cells. Areolae 0.3–1.2 mm wide, angular, irregular, frequently rimulose, slightly convex, heavily impregnated with rock fragments and crystals. Algae Trentepohlia; cells 6–16 × 5–10 µm; interstitial hyphae 1–2 µm thick. Prothallus not apparent. Ascomata perithecioid, dull black, very numerous, 1/3 immersed to superficial, hemispherical, subglobose or ellipsoidal, (0.8–) 1.1 (–1.7) mm wide, usually partly overgrown by a thin layer of thallus. Centra (1–) 2, obpyriform, 0.3–0.63 mm diam., with a common ostiole. Ostiole usually inconspicuous, otherwise deeply concave and up to 100 µm diam., eccentric to lateral. Ascomatal wall 130–260 µm thick, brown-black to black, partly carbonized, somewhat brittle when dry, containing minute rock fragments and crystals; surface smooth to grossly uneven. Excipulum 15–20 µm thick, with a dark grey-brown outer zone and a pale brown inner zone. Paraphyses 1–2 µm thick, simple below, sparingly branched and anastomosing above, not interspersed with granules or globules. Periphyses absent. Hymenial gel Lugol's I+ blue (fugitive). Subhymenium 20–30 µm thick. Asci fissitunicate, 8-spored, elongate-cylindrical, 115–140 × 18–22 µm; apex rounded; ocular chambers of immature and mature asci weakly sagittiform or not apparent. Ascospores pale to medium brown, narrowly to broadly ellipsoidal or shortly fusiform, with 3 distosepta, lacking any trace of eusepta, obliquely uniseriate or irregularly biseriate in the ascus, (18–) 22.5 (–28) × (8–) 11 (–14) µm; apices usually rounded, occasionally somewhat pointed, rarely apiculate; lumina rounded or angular, rarely lentiform; gelatinous sheath absent. Post-mature ascospores darker brown, with larger and noticeably vacuolate lumina, often constricted at the septa; walls becoming furrowed and, eventually, collapsing. Conidiomata very numerous, 1/3–2/3 immersed, 0.13–0.27 mm diam., with a uniformly black, 30–50 µm thick wall, a labyrinthine conidiogenous layer and short, unbranched conidiophores. Conidia filiform, weakly to strongly curved, 10–20 × 0.5–0.8 µm. | ||
| Abundant on shaded basalt in boulder scree above the seashore at the type locality in Lord Howe Is. | ||
| McCarthy (1996a) | ||
| Checklist Index |
| Introduction | A–D | E–O | P–R | S–Z | Oceanic Islands | References |
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