Nash, T.H., Ryan, B.D., Gries, C., Bungartz, F., (eds.) 2002. Lichen Flora of the Greater Sonoran Desert Region. Vol 1.
Life Habit: lichenized Thallus: squamulose, composed of irregularly arranged squamules or rosulate; attached by a rhizohyphal weft, tufts of rhizohyphae, rhizines, or basal ends of squamules squamules: dispersed, rounded, contiguous or imbricate, loosely or closely adnate; margins: sometimes ascending, lobed, and/or incised upper surface: brownish or greenish gray or brown, dull, smooth or minutely scabrose, often whitish pruinose; isidia and soredia: absent (but isidia-like lobules present in one species) upper cortex: paraplectenchymatous, thin (10-30 micro meter thick), composed of rounded-subangular cells 5-8 micro meter in diam., poorly delimited from algal layer, with or without an amorphous epinecral layer medulla: white, of intricately interwoven hyphae, filamentous or with many spherical cells to subparaplectenchymatous photobiont: primary one a chlorococcoid alga, secondary photobiont absent; algal cells: 5-12 micro meter in diam.; algal layer: usually 50-100 micro meter high, horizontally continuous, unevenly delimited above and below lower cortex: paraplectenchymatous or composed of more densely packed, globular medullary cells, or lacking; rhizohyphae (if present at all): colorless or brown lower surface: pale to black, bare or with loose to dense rhizohyphal weft, hyphal tufts or true rhizines Ascomata: perithecial, laminal, immersed, subglobose or broadly pyriform, without involucrellum; exciple: hyaline, brownish or brown-black; interascal filaments: absent; hymenial gel: amyloid (I+ orange-red or blue, always blue after pretreatment with K); ostiolar filaments (periphyses): present, simple or sparsely branched asci: clavate, thin-walled, wall non-amyloid, apically not or slightly thickened, without ocular chamber, 8-spored ascospores: biseriately arranged, ellipsoid, ovoid to clavate or subfusiform, simple, hyaline, thin-walled, smooth, without halo Conidiomata: pycnidial (known only from one species), immersed, of Dermatocarpon-type conidia: short cylindrical Secondary metabolites: none detected Geography: arid, semi-arid or arctic-alpine regions of the world and wherever arid microclimates are found Substrate: soil, detritus, mosses and bark.