TYPE. UNITED STATES. FLORIDA, Polk Co., Lake Wales, Bok Tower Gardens, on fallen rotting oak, 27.VI.1988, E. Wheeler s.n. (NY 02440124, holotype).

Description. Lichenized fungus.

Thallus crustose, dark green to yellow, granular, continuous to dispersed areolate. Vegetative diaspores bright yellow soredia in punctiform soralia. Photobiont trebouxoid alga. Ascomata lecideine apothecia, up to 0.5 mm; disk black; margin not raised. Exciple dark with yellowish inner layer, dissolving in K; hymenium hyaline, not inspersed; paraphyses branched, tips swollen to 3-4 µm and brown; hypothecium light brown. Asci clavate, 8-spored. Ascospores brown, 2-celled, strongly ornamented, 16-19 × 9-11.5 µm. Pycnidia not reported.

Chemistry. K-, KC+ yellow-orange, C+ yellow-orange; secalonic acid.

Substrate and Habitat. Corticolous on oaks in woodlands.

Distribution. Eastern North America; in North Carolina found in the Coastal Plan ecoregion.

Literature

Harris, R.C. (1988) Buellia in north and central Florida or the virtues and rewards of collecting. Evansia 5(3): 37-45.

Lendemer, J.C. & B.P. Hodkinson. (2011) Stretching the Boundaries: A Range Extension for Buellia wheeleri R.C. Harris. Evansia 26(4): 172-176.