Type: Foliicolous Fungi; Description: Ascomata hysterothecial, scattered, subepidermal to partly sub-epidermal, partly erumpent, lens-shaped, black with a greyish surround and red (occasionally orange or grey) lips, 0.4–1.3 mm long, opening by a longitudinal split, zone lines black, numerous; on dead portions of living needles and on dead needles. Asci clavate to cylindrical, 112–130 × 10–12 μm. Ascospores filiform, 0-septate, 70–90 × 2 μm, smooth, hyaline. Conidiomata scattered, subepidermal, slightly raising the needle surface, elliptical, somewhat darker than the needle, 0.2–0.5 mm long, opening by a longitudinal split along a line of stomata. Conidia rod-shaped, 5–7 × 3–5 μm, smooth, hyaline.

Distribution: Northland, Auckland, Coromandel, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Taranaki, Taupo, Wanganui, Wellington, Gisborne, Hawkes Bay, Wairarapa, Nelson, Buller, Westland, Fiordland, North Canterbury, Mid Canterbury, South Canterbury, Central Otago, Dunedin, Southland.; 1st Record: Robinson (1919).

Significance: Johnston (1992) recorded 24 species of Lophodermium in New Zealand, mostly on fallen leaves. Only two of these and the recently reported L. molitoris (Johnston et al. 2003) are known from living leaves. For descriptions of the other species, see Johnston (1989). Before the appearance of Minter’s (1981) monograph on species of Lophodermium on pines, the three species now known to be present on Pinus spp. in New Zealand were collectively called Lophodermium pinastri. In association with Cyclaneusma minus, they were considered to be responsible for a periodic needle-cast of Pinus radiata (Gilmour 1966a). It has since been shown that this needle-cast is attributable to C. minus alone. Species of Lophodermium present in New Zealand are regarded as saprobes although they are endophytic in needles of P. radiata (Gadgil 1984). In New Zealand, L. conigenum and L. pinastri are both common in pine plantations; L. molitoris is known from a single collection. The only major pathogenic species, Lophodermium seditiosum Minter, Staley & Millar (Minter & Millar 1980) is not present in New Zealand.; Host(s): Pinus densiflora, P. muricata, P. palustris, P. pinaster, P. radiata, P. roxburghii.