TYPE. SWEDEN. “Habitat in cortice Populi tremulae.” (Acharius 1799) (H-ACH 0703D, holotype; H-ACH 0703C, lectotype designated by R.C. Harris, 1994).
Description.Life form: lichenized fungus.
[Modified from Purvis & Orange 2009] Thallus crustose, endophloedal, whitish or pale gray; vegetative diaspores absent. Photobiont Trentepohlia alga. Ascomata perithecia, 0.5-1 mm diam., black (rarely pink), one quarter to entirely immersed; ostiole often eccentric and sometimes papilla-like. Hamathecium of persistent, slender, sparingly branched or anastomosing, long-celled pseudoparaphyses; periphyses absent; hymenial gel I-, K/I–. Asci cylindrical, K/I–, fissitunicate, 8-spored, uniseriate; apical dome with a broad ocular chamber surmounted by a hemispherical meniscus-like structure; ascospores hyaline, 2-celled, ends rounded, 15-27(-30) × 8-12 µm. Pycnidia 0.1-0.25 mm diam., frequent but rarely numerous; conidia 3-5 × 0.8-1 µm.
Chemistry. No substances detected by TLC.
Substrate and Habitat. Corticolous.
Distribution. Europe, Asia, Macaronesia, New Zealand, North America; in North Carolina reported from the Coastal Plain ecoregion.
Literature
Acharius, E. (1799) Lichenographiae Sueciae Prodromus. 264 pp (original description as Lichen gemmatus).
Lendemer, J.C. & R.C. Harris (2014) Studies in Lichens and Lichenicolous Fungi No. 17 – Notes on Lichens from the Coastal Plain of Southeastern North America. Opuscula Philolichenum13: 8-19.
Purvis, O.W. & A. Orange. (2009) Acrocordia A. Massal. (1854). Pp. 115-117 in Smith, C.W., A. Aptroot, B.J. Coppins, A. Fletcher, O.L. Gilbert, P.W. James & P.A. Wolseley (eds.). The Lichens of Great Britain and Ireland. The British Lichen Society, London.