PDD 57166.

Fruiting body an aethalium, subglobose, scattered or gregarious, usually dark to almost black, 2–4 mm in diameter. Cortex yellow-brown but thickly covered with dark, purplish brown or black scales, these divided into distinct chambers (i.e., and thus tessellate), dehiscence by an apical tear but soon becoming irregular. Pseudocapillitum consisting of colourless or yellow branching tubules arriving[?deriving] from the inner portion of the cortex, often smooth at the base and roughened or transversely wrinkled elsewhere, 2–10 µm in diameter. Spores ochraceous in mass, nearly colourless by transmitted light, marked by faint irregular warts and lines, sometimes appearing nearly smooth, 4.5–5.5 µm in diameter. Plasmodium pink.

Reported to be cosmopolitan (Martin & Alexopoulos 1969) but never common. First reported (as Lycogala epidendrum var. tessellatum) from New Zealand by Cheesman & Lister (1915), but without specific locality data.

Decaying wood.

Martin & Alexopoulos (1969), Lado & Pando (1997).

Lycogala exiguum has been regarded by some authors as a variety of L. epidendrum, although it is recognized as a separate species in most modern treatments of the myxomycetes. More recently, Nannenga-Bremekamp (1991) and Ing (1999) have suggested that forms previously assigned to L. epidendrum var. tessellatum be segregated from L. exiguum and assigned to a distinct species (L. confusum), which Ing (1999) described. If this concept is followed, the taxon reported from New Zealand would be listed under this new name.