TYPE. UNITED STATES. Illinois, on bark, Hall s.n. (H H-NYL 5046a, lectotype designated by Lendemer [2004]; PH, isolectotype; H-NYL 5044, 5045, 5047, syntypes).
Description. Lichenized fungus.
Thallus crustose, thin, whitish, rough, becoming scurfy or disappearing. Photobiont Trentepohlia alga. Ascomata arthonioid apothecia, round to slightly irregular, sessile, minute to small, 0.2-0.8 mm diam., basally constricted; disk flat to convex, black to whitish pruinose. Hymenium hyaline, I+ blue. Asci pyriform, 8-spored. Ascospores hyaline, oblong-ovoid, 2-3-septate, one end cell often larger (macrocephalic), 8-12 x 3.0-4.5 μm. Pycnidia large, often pruinose; conidia hyaline, simple, bacilliform..
Chemistry. Not reported.
Substrate and Habitat. Corticolous on trees.
Distribution. Eastern North America; in North Carolina one historical occurrence in the upper Piedmont of Polk County.
Literature
Fink, B. (1935) The Lichen Flora of the United States. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor.
Lendemer, J.C. (2004) Changes and additions to the checklist of North American Lichens. I. Mycotaxon89(2): 255-258.
Nylander, W. (1885) Arthoniae novae Americae borealis. Flora (Regensburg) 68(24): 447-449 (original description).