TYPE. Not reported.

Description. Lichenized fungus.

Thallus crustose, continuous, thin, yellow-green, smooth; vegetative diaspores absent. Ascomata lecanorine apothecia, common, scattered, sessile, rounded to +/-distorted, basally constricted, 0.5-1.4 mm diam.; disk orange-brown, plane; margin orange, prominent. Exciple not carbonized; epithecium encrusted with anthraquinone crystals; hymenium hyaline, not inspersed, 80-120 µm; hypothecium pale reddish brown. Asci 70-90 x 18-22 µm, 4-8-spored. Ascospores hyaline, submuriform, ellipsoid to oblong, 25-35 x 12-18 µm with lens-shaped locules. Pycnidia not seen.

Chemistry. Thallus and apothecia K+ purple; thallus containing ±fragilin (minor), ±parietin (trace); apothecia containing fragilin (major), parietin (minor), ±emodin (trace), ±7-chloroemodin (trace), ±7-chloroemodinal (trace), ±7-chloroparietinic acid (trace), ±7-chloro-teloschistin (trace), ±fragilin bisanthrone (trace), ±physcoin bisanthrone (trace), ±exuviatic acid B (minor).

Substrate and Habitat. Corticolous on hardwoods.

Distribution. Australasia, southeastern North America; in North Carolina represented by one historical specimen on the coast (PH 00442959, P.F. Scholander s.n., Dec. 1939; annot. J. Hafellner 1982), at the northermost of the species' range.

Literature

Elix, J.A. (2009) Letrouitiaceae, Flora Australia 57: 483–493.

Nylander, W. (1868) Synopsis lichenum Novae Caledoniae. Bulletin de la Société Linnéenne de Normandie. Ser. 2, 2: 39-140 (original description as Lecidea parabola).