Caloplaca murrayi is a species of crustose lichen in the family Teloschistaceae.[1] It is endemic to Aotearoa New Zealand. Its ochre-to-rusty thalli and crowded, rust-brown fruiting bodies make it conspicuous on sun-washed greywacke, schist and other hard rocks from Wellington southwards.
David J. Galloway described the lichen as a species new to science in 2004, based on material collected from a schist outcrop near Roxburgh, Otago. Caloplaca murrayi belongs to the large orange-lichen genus Caloplaca, which is most diverse in maritime and montane habitats. The holotype (CHR 534104) was collected in 2002 on the Roxburgh golf-course escarpment, but an earlier, unrecognised gathering had been made by James Murray; Galloway chose the epithetmurrayi to commemorate that pioneering Dunedin lichenologist.[2]
Morphologically, the species resembles the austral species Austroplaca cirrochrooides yet differs in lacking soredia, having consistently larger, rust-toned discs and broader, more robust ascospores. These distinctions, together with its New Zealand distribution and DNA evidence from allied taxa, support its recognition as a separate endemic lineage.[2]
Description
The thallus forms irregular, closely attached patches 1–5 cm across. At the margins the cortex fissures into tiny blocks ( areoles ) or minute flaps ( squamules ) that sometimes lift free of the rock surface. When dry the upper cortex is tawny-brown to cream-fawn; when moist it deepens to reddish-orange and shows scattered, whitish breathing pores (pseudocyphellae). No powdery soredia are produced.[2]
Apothecia (fruiting bodies) erupt through the cortex, up to eight per areole, soon becoming plate-like cups 0.1–1.0mm wide. Their discs start concave but usually flatten, turning rusty orange-brown to chestnut. A thin collar of thallus tissue (the thalline margin ) often remains as a pale rim beneath the darker proper margin . Microscopy shows colourless, oil-free hymenia 55–75μm tall, eight-spored asci, and oblong ascospores measuring 13–18.5 × 6.5–10μm with a sturdy internal wall (septum) a quarter to a third of the spore length.[2]
Field observations note its frequent association with other orange Caloplaca species and black Verrucaria crusts, forming colour mosaics on lightly weathered rock. Despite this visibility, collections remain scattered, suggesting either a genuinely patchy distribution or under-recording across suitable New Zealand coastal and montane habitats.[2]
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