PARATYPES: On sandy soil, Lake Waikaremoana, Urewera Nat. Park, Gisborne, G.J. Samuels et al., 22.V.1981, PDD 46049; on sandy soil under Nothofagus sp., Black Beech Tr., L. Waikaremoana, vic. motorcamp, Urewera Nat. Park, Gisborne, G.J. Samuels, A.P. Hawthorne, R.H. Petersen, and P.R. Johnston, 22.V.1981, PDD 49445; on sandy soil, Waikareiti Tr., L. Waikaremoana, Urewera Nat Park, Gisborne, G.J. Samuels, E. Horak, A.P. Hawthorne, P.R. Johnston, and R.H. Petersen, 24.V.1981, PDD 42042; on sandy soil, Aniwaniwa Falls, Lake Waikaremoana, Urewera Nat. Park, Gisborne, G.J. Samuels, 26.V.1981, PDD 49494; on sandy soil, Nelson Lakes National Park, Nelson, G.J. Samuels et al., 13.V.1982, PDD 45645; on wood, L. Waikare-iti, L. Waikaremoana, Urewera Nat. Park, Gisborne, G.J. Samuels and C.E. Samuels, 23.V.1982, PDD 49800; on Nothofagus sp., L. Waikare-iti, Urewera Nat. Park, Gisborne, G.J. Samuels, and C.E. Samuels, 23.V.1982, PDD 49801; on sandy soil, Taupeupe Saddle, 15 km SE Ruatahuna, Urewera Nat. Park, Gisborne, G.J. Samuels, P.K. Buchanan, and P.R. Johnston, 3.XI.1982, PDD 49720; on sandy soil, Aniwaniwa, Tr. to Ruapani, L. Waikaremoana, Urewera Nat. Park, Gisborne, G.J. Samuels, P.K. Buchanan, and P.R. Johnston, 4.XI.1982, PDD 49721; on soil, NW Nelson State Forest Park, vic. Whisky Cr., Nelson, G.J. Samuels, R.E. Beeber [sic], P.R. Johnston, and R.H. Petersen, 18.IV.1983, PDD 50183; on soil, Robinsons Cr., Haast Pass, Mt. Aspiring Nat. Park, Westland, G.J. Samuels, R.E. Beeber [sic], P.R. Johnston, and R.H. Petersen, 18.IV.1983, PDD 50184.

Apothecium cupulate, subsessile to substipitate, 4-12 mm in diam when dry, margin crenate, hymenium yellow to orange, receptacle yellowish beige when dry, surface strongly pustulate. Ectal excipulum of textura angularis to textura globulosa, 75-120 µm thick, cells ovoid to isodiametric, hyaline; cells at margin arranged in long, parallel hyphae which extend beyond the hymenium; cells of pustules hyaline, ovoid or subspherical, loosely interconnected, arranged irregularly in chains; a few cylindrical hyphae growing from outermost cells, septate, hyaline and thin-walled, ca. 5.5-7.5 µm wide. Medullary excipulum of textura intricata, 185-220 µm thick, hyphae hyaline, ca. 5.5 µm wide. Subhymenium not clear. Asci 8-spored, cylindrical, J- in Melzer's Reagent, ca. 325-340 x 13.2-18.3 µm, croziers not seen. Ascospores uniseriate, subfusoid, biguttulate, uninucleate, nucleus staining in acetocarmine, 20.5-25.2 x 9.0-10.8 µm, with numerous small warts, warts less than 0.5 µm in diam, often irregularly interconnected. Paraphyses filiform, slender, 2.0-2.8 µm wide, not exceeding asci.

HABITAT: On sandy soil, rarely on rotten wood.

Ab Tarzetta speciebus aliis ascosporis fusoideis cum ornamentatione cyanophilica differens.

NOTES: The genus Tarzetta has been placed in the tribe Jafneeae by Korf (1972) and in Otideeae by Dennis (1978). Three genera, Geopyxis, Jafnea, and Otidea, have been thought to be similar to Tarzetta in different aspects by many authors (Dennis, 1978; Eckblad, 1968; Harmaja, 1974; Korf, 1972, 1973; Rifai, 1968). These genera can be distinguished on the basis of the shape and structure of apothecium, the presence of brown hairs or hyaline hyphae on the receptacle surface, the shape and guttulation of ascospores, the stainability of nuclei in acetocarmine, and the presence of spore ornamentations. The species from New Zealand, to a certain extent, shares the characters of both Jafnea and Tarzetta. It has the pustulate, substipitate apothecium, crenate margin, a few hyaline hyphae on the receptacle, angular to globose cells in the ectal excipulum, and the interwoven hyphae in the medullary excipulum, which are characters of Tarzetta, but the fusoid, marked ascospores recall species of Jafnea. This reminds us of the situation in Trichophaea geoporoides, which we treated as a Trichophaea species though it is similar to Geopora in some ways (Korf & Zhuang, 1985). In avoiding description of a new genus for this species, we choose to place more emphasis on anatomical structure than on spore characteristics, and describe it as a species of Tarzetta, in a genus that clearly needs to be monographed.

HOLOTYPE: On sandy soil, Waikareiti Tr., L. Waikaremoana, Urewera Nat. Park, Gisborne, G.J. Samuels, A.P. Hawthorne, P.R. Johnston, E. Horak, and R.H. Petersen, 2.V.1981, PDD 49572; CUP 61778 (isotype).