Description.Life form: parasitic or parasymbiotic fungus on lichen thalli or parasitic on free-living algal colonies.
[Modified from Titov & Tibell 1993] Thallus absent. Ascomata stalked apothecia 0.5-1.3 mm tall, black or with a slight greenish hue, epruinose. Capitulum spherical to lenticular, 0.12-0.36 mm diam. Epithecium thin, aeruginose to brownish; hypothecium aeruginose to brownish; excipulum poorly developed and formed as a continuation of the outermost part of the stalk. Stalk slender, 0.03-0.07 mm in diameter, consisting of periclinally arranged, greenish to brown hyphae; central part of stalk with a small layer of pale hyphae. Asci small, 22-32 x 2.5-3.5 μm, cylindrical and with the apex penetrated by a narrow canal; ascospores simple, ellipsoid with rounded ends, pale greenish brown, 4.5-6.5 x 2-3 μm, smooth under the light microscope.
Substrate and Habitat. Lignicolous.
Distribution. Cosmpolitan; in North Carolina found in the Blue Ridge ecoregion.
Literature
Titov, A.N. & L. Tibell. (1993) Chaenothecopsis in the Russian Far East. Nordic Journal of Botany13(3): 313-329.