TYPE. “Habitat ad corticdes duros arborum in Insulus tropicis Americae. Swartz.” (Acharius 1810). AMERICA. Swartz s.n., s.d. (H-ACH 707A, lectotype; BM-ACH, isolectotype).
Life form. Lichenized fungus.
Description.Thallus crustose, corticate, endophloedal; surface smooth to uneven, olive-green to yellowish. Vegetative diaspores absent. PhotobiontTrentepohlia alga. Ascomata perithecia, black, solitary or densely crowded, 0.2-0.3 mm diam., prominent to sessile, subglobose to barrel-shaped, top flattened; ostiole apical, ostiolar area grayish. Hamathecium hyaline, clear; filaments thin, anastomosing, paraphysoids. Asci clavate, 8-spored; ascospores hyaline, fusiform-ellipsoid, 20-25 x 7-10 μm, 4-celled, lumina diamond-shaped.
Chemistry. Spot tests negative; no substances detected by TLC.
Substrate and habitat. Corticolous on hardwood trees.
Distribution. Pantropical north to coastal astern North America; in North Carolina found in the Coastal Plain ecoregion, rarely elsewhere.
Literature
Acharius, E. (1810) Lichenographia Universalis. 1-696 (original description as Verrucaria tropica).
Aptroot, A. & R. Lücking (2016) A revisionary synopsis of the Trypetheliaceae (Ascomycota: Trypetheliales). The Lichenologist48(6): 763-982.
Lücking, R. et al. (2016) A phylogenetic framework for reassessing generic concepts and species delimitation in the lichenized family Trypetheliaceae (Ascomycota: Dothideomycetes). TheLichenologist48(6): 739-762.