TYPE. “Habitat ad truncus arborum Indiae occidentalis.” (Acharius 1810) O.P. Swartz s.n. (H-ACH 1299, holotype).

Description. Lichenized fungus.

Thallus foliose, corticolous, slightly adnate, light grey, greenish-grey or bluish-grey, 1.8−5.0 cm in diameter and 61−110 µm thick. Lobes flabellate, (1.5−) 2.0−5.0 mm wide, upper surface smooth to slightly cuneate, usually with small concentric and radial lines, margins bent downward. Isidia marginal and occasionally lamellar, flattened scale-like or in the form of microfilidia (0.10−0.45 x 0.10−0.47 mm). Upper cortex 8−15 µm thick. Photobiont Scytonema cyanobacteria, 30−40 µm wide. Underside white, pale brownish or bluish; rhizines black to bluish-black or rarely white. Ascomata lecarnorine apothecia; disk convex, yellow-orange or brownish red, 1 mm diam. Exciple yellow−orange, 80 µm thick; epithecium 9 µm tall, orange to dark brown; hymenium 45−60 µm high, pale yellow; hypothecium 60 µm tall, light yellow to orange. Paraphyses simple, septate, sometimes with dilated apex, 45−50 µm high by 3−4 µm wide. Asci claviform, unitunicate, usually 8-spored, internal and/or external amyloid layers, 40−50 µm long by 8−11 µm wide. Ascospores simple, hyaline, ellipsoid to fusiform 10 x 4 µm. Pycnidia laminar or marginal, 0.06−0.10 (−0.22) mm in diameter, brown to black or bluish-black ostiole.

Chemistry. Cortex K–, C–, KC–, PD–; Photobiont layer K+ dark yellow, C–, KC+ yellow clear, PD–; Epithecium K+ orange, C–, KC+ orangish, PD–; K+ dark yellow, C–, KC+ yellow, P.S-; Hypothetium dark yellow K+, C–, KC+ light yellow, PD–.

Substrate and Habitat. epiphytic on shrubs and broad-leaved trees in moist, somewhat shaded montane forests.

Distribution. Pantropical, southeastern North America; in North Carolina species represented by historical records from the Blue Ridge ecoregion.

Literature

Acharius, E. (1810) Lichenographia Universalis. 696 pp (original description as Parmelia pellita).

Coca, L. F. & D. Sanín. (2010) Coccocarpia Pers. (Peltigerales - Ascomicetes Liquenizados) en Colombia. Tropical Bryology 32: 19-38.

Miller, S & S. Rycroft. (2022) Coccocarpia pellita (Ach.) Müll.Arg. in Cyanolichens Index. Scratchpads. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/ym4f10 accessed via GBIF.org on 2022-10-31.