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

Apothecia: sessile or subsessile, 0.12-0.35 mm diam., 0.14-0.2 mm tall; ascospore mass greenish black, protruding as a column 2-3 times longer than the width of the apothecium, with sclerotized hyphae; paraphyses: sclerotized, persistent exciple: very dark green or blackish green, K+ brownish red asci: when mature broadly ellipsoid, 13-14 x 5.5-7 µm ascospores: aeruginose, with spiral ridges, mature spores cylindrical, 1-3(-7)-septate, (9-)11.5-15 x 3.4-4.2 µm Pycnidia: frequent, appearing first, to 15 per host areole, erumpent, 40-60 µm in diam., the walls +aeruginose, K+ brownish red and often thick-walled cells; conidiogenous cells 6-9 x 2-3 µm conidia: subglobose to broadly ellipsoidal, 2-3 x 1.5-2 µm, formed from phialides Spot tests: exciple K+ brown, N+ aeruginose; spores K+ yellowish brown, N+ aeruginose; pycnidial wall K+ brown, N+ aeruginose. Substrate and ecology: on free-living algae or growing on calicioid lichens, parasitic or commensalistic, sometimes directly on bark or wood of old pine trees with no apparent association with algae, in humid conditions World distribution: widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere, temperate to northern boreal zone and in the equivalent Oroboreal zones; Europe, Asia and North America Sonoran distribution: California (non-Sonoran?) Notes: Infected lichen thalli are decolorized or brownish with the formation of extensive lesions. It much resembles