Global occurrence: Eurasia – Asia Extratropical | Eurasia – Europe | Americas – North America (incl Mexico) | Arctic.  Substrate: soil, clay, humus, turf, detritus, dead leaves | bryophytes – mosses, liverworts | bark, cork, plant surface – trunks, branches, twigs.  Life habit: lichenized (mutualistic with algal photobionts).  Thallus: crustose (crustaceous) – episubstratal – unspecified; continuous, diffuse, effuse | granular, granulose, granulate; [th] upper surface: black(ish) grey | green(ish) grey; [th marginal and upper surface] specific structures: absent; [th] morphol substructures (eg areoles, squamules): contiguous, coherent (throughout the thallus); [th] morphol substructures (eg areoles, lobes, branches) upper surface: granulose, granular | verrucose, warted.  Ascomata: absent | present; ascoma: perithecial, perithecioid – hymenial; ascoma [mm]: (low) 0.3 (high) 0.5; ascoma: subsessile, subimmersed, adnate, semi-immersed, emergent | sessile, superficial; [ascm, if apoth] margin surface; [if perith] periostiolar area, ostiole, involucrellum: black(ish) | blue(ish) black; [ascm] paraphyses/-oids: present.  Asci: unitunicate; [asc] tholus: not thickened; [asc] tholus amyloidity (iodine reaction): absent.  Ascospores: (median) 8.0; [asp] shape: fusiform; [asp] length [µm]: (low) 25.0 (high) 40.0; [asp] width [µm]: (low) 4.0 (high) 6.0; [asp] septa: present, transversely septate; [asp] transversal septa: (median) 3.0; [asp] pigmentation: hyaline, colourless; [asp] perispore, epispore: not apparent.  Secondary metabolites: absent.  Primary photobiont: present, chlorophytaceous – trentepohliaceous, trentepohlioid.  Secondary photobionts (eg in cephalodia): absent.