Apothecia subsparsa, superficialia, brevissime stipitata, umbrina, leviter pubcrula, 2.5 mm. lata, margine integra. Asci cylindracco-clavati, apice jodo non tincti, octospori, 60-70 x 5 µ; ascosporae oblongato-ellipsoideae vel allantoideae, distichae, continuae, 8-9 x 1.5 µ; paraphyses filiformes, 1-1.5 µ crassae, apicem versus baud incrassatae.

Flesh dark brown throughout, composed of loosely woven purplish-brown hyphae 3-4 µ wide; excipulum composed of parallel, brown, thin-walled hyphae lying at a low angle to the surface, their tips running out into 1-2celled cylindrical hairs, with the tip cell inflated to 8-10 µ diameter. These hairs recall those of Chlorosplenium versiforme but the fungus completely lacks green or olive tints and can scarcely be referred to that genus.

Ad cortices arborum frondosarum, Huia, Auckland, 4.5.1957, J. D. Atkinson 19034 (typus).

[Notes from Kew Type specimen, PRJ 2010] additional specimens in Kew, duplicates from PDD 19412, 45502

NEW ZEALAND: Auckland, Huia, on bark of frondose tree, 4 v 1957, leg. J.D. Atkinson, P.D.D. 19034, (Holotype, K); Auckland, Henderson, on Agathis australis, v 1947, leg. J.M. Dingley, P.D.D. 19412. (K); Coromandel Peninsula, on Agathis australis, ii 1971, leg. A. Bell 115.

STROMA substratal, forming black lines within the substrate and irregular surface blackening. APOTHECIA gregarious to scattered, superficial or erumpent through bark, shortly stipitate to subsessile. DISC 1-3 mm diam., convex or plane, dark brown, olivaceous or blackish when dry, with a somewhat inrolled margin, rehydrating pale orange-brown, or yellowish-olivaceous, smooth. RECEPTACLE cupulate to saucer-shaped, brown or with olive tinge, the surface conspicuously scurfy when dry, less so when rehydrated. STIPE central, short, stout, cylindrical, darker towards the base, otherwise concolorous, scurfy. ASCI 8-spored, narrowly cylindric-clavate, tapered below to a narrow base, often enlarged to a small foot 2.5-3.5 µm diam., apex rounded or somewhat flattened, the pore faintly blued by Melzer's reagent, (70-)75-90 x 5-7 µm. ASCOSPORES hyaline, cylindric, frequently curved or allantoid, ends rounded, non-septate, usually containing 2 small guttules biseriate or irregularly arranged, 8-10 x 1.5-2.0, mean 8.8 (SD 0.7) x mean 1.8 (SD 0.1 µm (holotype); 8.5-12.5 x 1.5-2.0, mean 9.8 (SD 0.8) x mean 1.6 (SD 0.1) µm (P.D.D. 19412). PARAPHYSES simple, filiform, obtuse, remotely septate, equal to the asci, 1.0-1.5 µm diam., enlarged slightly to 2 µm at the apex. SUBHYMENIUM usually distinct, 50-60 µm deep, composed of closely interwoven pale brown hyphae 2-3 µm diam. MEDULLARY EXCIPULUM composed of loosely interwoven hyphae 2-4 µm diam., subhyaline to pale brown in the receptacle and upper stipe, becoming more deeply pigmented towards the stipe base, the pigment irregularly deposited and often giving a granular appearance to the walls. ECTAL EXCIPULUM distinctly delimited, duplex in the stipe, there comprising an innermost layer 15-20 µm thick of vertically oriented dark-brown, septate hyphae 2-3 µm diam., the pigment forming irregular granules on the walls. This layer disappears towards the stipe apex. Outermost layer 20-35 µm thick, present in the receptacle, narrowed to the margin, composed of parallel, hyaline or faintly pigmented hyphae septate to produce elongated cells 15-25 x 3-4 µm, arranged at a low angle to the surface and there giving rise to free, hair-like structures. These structures are thin-walled, 0-2-septate pale brown on the receptacle, more deeply pigmented towards the stipe base, the pigmentation often granular, variable in length, up to about 80 µm long, somewhat clavate obtuse, 6-10 µm diam., adpressed to the surface or spreading and entangled, less evident towards the margin.

On bark of frondose tree and on Agathis australis (Araucariaceae). Auckland, New Zealand.