Nash, T.H., Ryan, B.D., Gries, C., Bungartz, F., (eds.) 2004. Lichen Flora of the Greater Sonoran Desert Region. Vol 2.

Life habit: lichenized or lichenicolous Thallus: crustose, thin rimose, or entirely without cracks; prothallus absent surface: smooth, warted, or finely granular, sometimes forming soredia or goniocysts but never isidia cortex: absent medulla: indiscernable or very thin photobiont: primary one chlorococcoid green alga, secondary one absent Ascomata: apothecial, biatorine, up to 0.8 mm wide, ±brown to black, rarely pale pink, without pruina (rarely with thin white pruina), containing a green (K-, N+ purple) and/or an olive-brown (K-, N-) pigment, becoming convex and almost globose with age proper exciple: annular, poorly developed, prosoplechtenchymatic, composed of radiating ±branched and anastomosed hyphae that are similar to the paraphyses, with very thick, gelatinized, conglutinated walls, and narrowly cylindrical lumina that gradually become somewhat wider towards the edge hymenium: 35-65 µm tall, colorless below, with a distinct epithecium containing pigment and rarely crystals paraphyses: winding, similar in structure to excipular hyphae, 1.5-3 µm wide in mid-hymenium, ±conglutinated, abundantly branched and sparingly anastomosed; apical cells: often swollen, some (in pigmented apothecia) crowned by a distinct, thin hood of green or brown pigment, surrounded by distinct, thick, gelatinous layer hypothecium: colorless, without crystals and oil droplets, not chondroid asci: broadly clavate, surrounded by a gelatinous, amyloid sheet, with a well-developed, amyloid tholus containing a widely cylindrical axial body (sometimes surrounded by a deeper amyloid zone around the axial body) and a poorly developed, bluntly conical ocular chamber (more or less Lecanora-type), 8-spored or rarely 16-spored ascospores: colorless, transversely (1-)3-7-septate, fusiform to acicular, straight, curved or strongly sigmoid, without perispore or halo Conidiomata: pycnidial, ±immersed, upper part of wall containing same pigments as apothecia, unilocular, with rather short, branched conidiophores and ampulliform conidiogenous cells conidia: acrogenous, (1) bacilliform, straight, non-septate, or (2) filiform, curved, non-septate Secondary metabolites: usually none, sometimes gyrophoric or lobaric acid Geography: temperate to subtropical regions of Europe, North America, Africa, Asia, and Australia Substrate: on rock, bark, living leaves and needles (foliicolous). Scoliciosporum: in the Sonoran region