TYPE. SWEDEN. Pite Lappmark, Arvidsjaur par., 36 km ad austro-occidentem a Moskosel, Reivo Nature Reserve, 1-5 km ad austro-occidentem a Laxtjarnen, 65° 47' N, 19° 06' E, alt. c. 450 m, ad lignum trunci veteris Betulae, ad rivulum, cum Anisomeridio nyssaegeno, 31.VII.1977, B. J. Coppins (6430) & L. Tibell (E, holotype, NMW, isotype).
Life form. Lichenized fungus.
Description. [Modified from Orange (1991)] Thallus crustose, epiphloeoedal (or partly immersed), pale green, thin, finely granular-verrucose, composed of ± isodiametric goniocysts 14-23 μm diameter; fungal cells of goniocyst isodiametric to oblong, hyaline, 3-8 x 2-5-4-5 μm; cells on exposed surface of goniocysts each with several conical papillae 0-7-1-2 x 0-7-0-9 μm. Photobiont chlorococcoid alga; cells ± isodiametric, 4-8 μm. Ascomata perithecioid, ½ to ¾ -immersed in the substrate, pale orange-brown when dry, broadly ovoid, slightly narrowed towards apex, 140-220 μm wide when moist; surface matt when dry, ± smooth, naked; ostiole inconspicuous. Involucrellum absent. Exciple pale, 20-30 μm thick at sides and base, of two ± distinct layers. Outer layer up to ½ the thickness of the exciple at sides and base, in section pale yellowish-brown, cells isodiametric to shortly elongated, 1-6 x 1-4.5 μm; near the apex of the perithecium, cells of outer layer generally larger and less elongate than cells below. Inner layer ½ to 4/5 the thickness of the exciple at sides and base, in section hyaline, of radially compressed cells 4-10 x 1-5.4 μm forming a textura angularis; near the apex of the perithecium, cells of inner layer with walls up to ~2.5 um thick, lumens difficult to distinguish. Paraphyses absent; periphyses up to 30 x 2 μm, branched, lining the upper part of the perithecial centrum. Hymenial gel I + red, K/I + blue. Asci 8-spored, narrowly clavate with rounded apex, 65-80 x 14-20 μm, I-, fissitunicate, wall thickened towards apex; ocular chamber present, transversely elliptic to ± quadrate or transversely oblong in optical section; endotunica often appearing two-layered at apex; ectotunica of dehisced asci with a ± truncated mouth, mouth often with a small irregular flap attached at one side, endotunica of dehisced asci delicate, not forming a persistent rostrum. Ascospores irregularly biseriate in the ascus, hyaline, fusiform-ellipsoid, widest above the middle, thin-walled, smooth, not halonate, straight (at most slightly asymmetrical), submuriform with 5(-6) transverse septa, (0-)1-3(-4) cells with a single longitudinal septum (rarely a further transverse septum laid down in a cell already delimited by a longitudinal septum, or 1-2 septa markedly oblique), ascospores scarcely or slightly constricted at septa, 17-21.5 x (6-)6.5-8 um, 2.3-2.9 times as long as wide. Conidiomata not reported.
Chemistry. Not investigated.
Substrate and habitat: Lignicolous on decaying wood as well as corticolous on trunk bases.
Distribution. Europe, North America; in North Carolina found in the Coastal Plain ecoregion.
Literature
Lee BG, Hur J-S. (2022) A New Lichenized Fungus, Psoroglaena humidosilvae, from a Forested Wetland of Korea, with a Taxonomic Key to the Species of Psoroglaena. Journal of Fungi8(4): 392.
Klepsland, J. T. (2020) Thirty lichens and lichenicolous fungi new to Norway. Graphis Scripta32 (7): 120–143.
Orange, A. (1991) Macentina dictyospora (Verrucariaceae), a new lichenized species from Sweden. The Lichenologist23(1): 15-20 (original description).