TYPE. BRAZIL. Sao Paolo, “Saxicola ad Pincheyros prope Apiahy in Brasilia meridionali, cum Buellia insulina Müll. Arg.: Puiggari n. 1738 pr. p.” (Müller 1888).
Life form. Lichenized fungus.
Description.Thallus crustose, light brown to olive, thin, smooth, rimose to rimose-areolate, dull to slightly shiny. Photobiont chlorococcoid algae. Ascomata perithecia, scattered, immersed, 0.2-0.4 mm diam., bulging in areoles, exposed tips dark brown; wall in section mostly pale, darkened apically. Hamathecium hyaline, I-, lacking algae; paraphyses branched and anastomosing. Asci I+ vinose, (4-6-) 8-spored; ascospores hyaline, muriform, with 6-7 transverse septa and 2+ longitudinal septa, 22-35 x 10-14 μm (20-32 x 9-13 μm in Mayrhofer 1987); perispore absent. Conidia elongate, slightly curved, 10-12 x < 1 μm.
Chemistry. Thallus I-, K-; perithecial tips K-,
Substrate and habitat. Saxicolous on noncalcareous (slate, quartzite, granite, basalt) rock.
Distribution. Most records from central and eastern North America, also reported from Brazil, (Müller 1888) and Papua New Guinea, likely pantropical (Aptroot 1998); in North Carolina found in the Piedmont ecoregion.
Literature
Aptroot, A. (1998) New lichens and lichen records from Papua New Guinea, with the description of Crustospathula, a new genus in the Bacidiaceae. Tropical Bryology14: 25-34.
Mayrhofer, H. (1987) Monographie der Flechtengattung Thelenella. Bibliotheca Lichenologica26: 1-106.
Müller, J. (1888) Lichenologische Beiträge XXX. Flora (Regensburg) 71: 528-552 (original description as Microglaena brasiliensis).
Vainio, E.A. (1896) Lichenes Antillarum a W.R. Elliott collecti. Journal of Botany, British and Foreign34: 292-297.