Apothecia sessile, scattered or gregarious, 125-175 µm diam, colourless when fresh, drying to pale yellow. Apothecial wall composed of globose cells which may become angular through mutual pressure. Asci broadly clavate (Fig. 1 A, B) approximately 50-60 x 20 µm when mature, with little or no stalk, containing eight biseriately arranged ascospores. Ascospores bluntly oval, 9-14 x 5-6 µm (Fig. 2), smooth-walled, hyaline, sometimes containing a refractive bubble (Fig. 1 B). Paraphyses hyaline, cylindrical, septate, sometimes with short branches, 3-4 µm in diam and similar in length to the mature asci.

Apotheciis 125-175 µm diametro, sessilibus, pallidus. Excipulum cellarum globosarum. Thecis globosarum clavati, octosporis, 2-seriatis, 50-60 x 20 µm. Ascosporis ellipsodeis hyalinis aut eguttulatis aut guttulatis, 9-l4 X 5-6 µm. Paraphysibus hyalinis, septatis, aut simplicibus aut ramosus brevis, 3-4 µm.

Coprotus trichosurus appears most closely related to C. granuliformis (Cr. & Cr.) Kimbrough and C. breviascus (Vel.) Kimbrough, Luck-Allen & Cain. All three species have very short, broad asci (45-60 x 15-30 µm), and ascospores that approach 15 µm in length. Coprotus trichosurus may be distinguished from these species, however, in that its apothecia are usually -smaller and devoid of pigments, its spores are from 1.0-5.0 µm smaller in diameter, and its paraphyses are neither broadly inflated nor filled with lipid bound pigments. Although certain collections of C. granuliformis appear colourless, small lipid droplets may still be found in the paraphyses. The paraphyses in C. breviascus are slightly uncinate and filled with large pigmented droplets, while those of C. trichosurus are straight, cylindric and devoid of pigmented droplets.

Sparsa vel gregaria in stercoribus Trichosuri vulpeculae, Orongorongo Valley, Wellington, Nova Zelandia. Dec. 1971, A. Bell, holotypus (PDD 30082).