{"id":7410,"date":"2025-09-26T10:15:55","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T21:15:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/epress\/?page_id=7410"},"modified":"2025-10-21T21:14:25","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T08:14:25","slug":"pertusaria-ascospore","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/epress\/index.php\/perspectives-in-biodiversity\/volumes\/2025-1\/pertusaria-ascospore\/","title":{"rendered":"Perspectives in Biodiversity | 2025 | Volume 3 | pp 83\u201398"},"content":{"rendered":"<nav class=\"is-responsive wp-block-navigation is-layout-flex wp-block-navigation-is-layout-flex\" aria-label=\"Perspectives in Biodiversity\" \n\t\t data-wp-interactive=\"core\/navigation\" data-wp-context='{\"overlayOpenedBy\":{\"click\":false,\"hover\":false,\"focus\":false},\"type\":\"overlay\",\"roleAttribute\":\"\",\"ariaLabel\":\"Menu\"}'><button aria-haspopup=\"dialog\" aria-label=\"Open menu\" class=\"wp-block-navigation__responsive-container-open\" 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class=\"wp-block-navigation-item__label\">Contact Us <\/span><\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div><\/nav>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Research paper<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/epress\/index.php\/perspectives-in-biodiversity\/volumes\/2025-1\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"7080\">Volume 3<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Using ascospore size as a first tool to identify verrucoid <em>Pertusaria<\/em> species DC. species from Aotearoa \/ New Zealand<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>Anthony E. Aldridge<sup>1<\/sup>, Jennifer M. Bannister<sup>2<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Affiliations\/ Address:<br>1 20 Genia Drive, Wakefield, Tasman 7025, New Zealand.<br>2 Botany Department, Otago University, Dunedin 9016, New Zealand.<br>Corresponding author: tony@southnet.co.nz<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Received: 14 August 2025 | Accepted: 15 August 2025 | Published: 21 October 2025<br>Associate Editor: Peter de Lange<br><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.34074\/pibdiv.003108\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.34074\/pibdiv.003108<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/epress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/PBD-aldridge-n-bannister-2025.pdf\" data-type=\"attachment\" data-id=\"7596\">Download PDF<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Abstract<\/strong><br>The widespread crustose lichen genus <em>Pertusaria<\/em> DC. (Pertusariaceae) is present throughout Aotearoa \/ New Zealand. These <em>Pertusaria<\/em> species exhibit many variable thalline features in colour and shape. The chemicals present are helpful in the identification of <em>Pertusaria<\/em> species, but the very detailed results obtained by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) now render existing descriptions difficult to use. The average spore size, substrate and number of spores per ascus, however, remain stable features amenable to statistical methods for discriminating among species. In this study, the length and width of 563 ascospores of 23 species of verrucoid <em>Pertusaria<\/em> found in Aotearoa \/ New Zealand were measured. Fresh ascospore preparations were used and only mature ascospores were measured. All measurements were made by one person (JMB). Published ascospore measurements were later added so that the results would include information about all Aotearoa \/ New Zealand verrucoid species of <em>Pertusaria<\/em>.<br>Statistical outline analysis showed that mature ascospores were consistently elliptical in 2D (R<sup>2<\/sup> &gt; 99%), confirming that length and width are sufficient to completely describe ascospore shape. Bivariate analysis highlighted which species were significantly different from each other. This novel, yet simple visual display of mean ascospore length and width, together with the type of substrate and the number of ascus spores, is proposed as an effective means of identifying verrucoid species of <em>Pertusaria<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\"><strong>Cite as<\/strong><br>Aldridge, A. E., Bannister, J. M. (2025). Using ascospore size as a first tool to identify verrucoid <em>Pertusaria<\/em> DC. species from Aotearoa \/ New Zealand. <em>Perspectives in Biodiversity<\/em> 3(1): 83\u201398. <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.34074\/pibdiv.003108\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.34074\/pibdiv.003108<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Research paper Volume 3 Using ascospore size as a first tool to identify verrucoid Pertusaria species DC. species from Aotearoa \/ New Zealand Anthony E. Aldridge1, Jennifer M. Bannister2 Affiliations\/ Address:1 20 Genia Drive, Wakefield, Tasman 7025, New Zealand.2 Botany&#8230; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/epress\/index.php\/perspectives-in-biodiversity\/volumes\/2025-1\/pertusaria-ascospore\/\">Continue Reading &rarr;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"parent":7080,"menu_order":9,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-7410","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/epress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/epress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/epress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/epress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/epress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7410"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/epress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7410\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7620,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/epress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7410\/revisions\/7620"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/epress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unitec.ac.nz\/epress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}